BAGHDAD, Mar 31 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi parliament, yesterday failed for the third time, to elect a new president, after failing to reach a quorum, amid ongoing political disputes.
At the beginning of the session, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives (Parliament) announced that, the quorum, set at two-thirds of the house’s 329 members had not been achieved, to elect the president, the parliament’s media office said in a statement.
The parliament continued its regular session and adjourned it without giving a new date, the statement said.
Earlier, parliament set Mar 30, as the date for a new parliament session to elect the president, with some 40 candidates competing for the post.
The repeated failure to elect a new president came, amid a political row among Shiite parties.
Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr’s Sadrist Movement, vowed to form a new national majority from the winning parties in the elections, after his followers took the lead with 73 seats out of 329-seat parliament, in the elections held on Oct 10, 2021.
Al-Sadr’s pro-Iranian rivals and some other parties want to form a consensus government, to include all blocs, as was the situation in the successive governments after 2003.– NNN-NINA
