The new Iraqi Council of Representatives on Sunday opened with a heated inaugural session, three tense months after legislative elections won by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the likely kingmaker of the next government.
Al-Sadr, 47, who once led an anti-US militia and who has a large following, is expected to have the key say in who is to serve as the next prime minister, a post held by Mustafa al-Kadhemi.
Sunday saw the swearing in of the 329 members of the unicameral parliament and the re-election of Iraqi Representative Mohammed al-Halbousi, who is Sunni, as speaker.
Photo: Reuters
However, a dispute broke out between lawmakers of the Shiite Coordination Framework coalition and their rivals under al-Sadr, several parliamentary sources said.
Iraq’s post-election period has been marred by high tensions, violence and allegations of voter fraud.
Iraqi Representative Mahmud al-Mashhadani, the oldest member of parliament who chaired Sunday’s session, was “hospitalized,” public television said.
Iraqi News Agency reported that he was in a “stable” condition, while a parliamentary source requesting anonymity said that al-Mashhadani “fainted.”
Videos filmed by lawmakers showed them fighting among themselves and the session was suspended for more than an hour before resuming.
Al-Sadr, who wears the black turban of a descendant of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, emerged as the big winner of the polls on Oct. 10 last year.
The elections had been held several months early as a concession to a democracy movement.
Al-Sadr’s movement, which ran after he reversed an initial election boycott call, won 73 of the 329 seats.
Iraqi Representative Muthana Amin, who is Kurdish, said that Sunday’s session “began normally,” but that the Coordination Framework claimed it was the largest alliance in parliament, with 88 seats.
Mashhadani “asked for the information to be verified, after which he was abused,” Amin told reporters, without saying whether his hospitalization was linked to the incident.
Within 30 days of its inaugural session, the parliament must elect the president of the republic.
The new president must then appoint a premier, who is chosen by the largest coalition and has 30 days to form a government.
Some experts expect a new governing team in place by March for the oil-rich, but war-battered country of 40 million people.
Al-Sadr has repeatedly said that he wants to break with the Iraqi political tradition of a “consensus” government to instead build a majority government.
That would mean securing a ruling majority that would appoint a premier and a Cabinet from within its ranks.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS