Mohamed al-Halbousi re-elected as speaker of Iraq’s parliament

Mohamed al-Halbousi went up for a vote against Mahmood al-Mashhadani, who could only get 14 votes.
Mohamed al-Halbousi. (Photo: AFP)
Mohamed al-Halbousi. (Photo: AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Sunni politician Mohamed al-Halbousi has been re-elected as the speaker of Iraq's parliament after securing 200 votes from 228 lawmakers present during the body's first session on Sunday.

He went up for a vote against Mahmood al-Mashhadani, who could only get 14 votes. Mashhadani, the current parliament's eldest member, was chairing the meeting, as stipulated in Iraq's constitution.

The representative took ill as tensions rose in the early hours of the session in the afternoon.

The 41-year-old Halbousi was the governor of Anbar before being elected to the Council of Representatives in 2017 and first took up the speakership. He is the first politician to serve two terms as the legislature's speaker.

After electing Halbousi as parliament speaker, lawmakers then voted on his two deputies, traditionally reserved for one Shia and one Kurdish candidate.

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