Al-Mashhadani Fills Two-Year Vacancy as Iraq’s Parliament Speaker

Iraqi lawmakers cast their votes to elect the parliament speaker on October 31, 2024 (Parliament Media)
Iraqi lawmakers cast their votes to elect the parliament speaker on October 31, 2024 (Parliament Media)
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Al-Mashhadani Fills Two-Year Vacancy as Iraq’s Parliament Speaker

Iraqi lawmakers cast their votes to elect the parliament speaker on October 31, 2024 (Parliament Media)
Iraqi lawmakers cast their votes to elect the parliament speaker on October 31, 2024 (Parliament Media)

The Iraqi parliament elected veteran politician Mahmoud al-Mashhadani as its new speaker on Thursday, ending a two-year vacancy in the position.
During the voting session, lawmakers considered candidates including al-Mashhadani, Salim al-Aisawi, Talal al-Zubai, and Amer Abdul Jabbar.
In the first round, 271 members voted, with al-Mashhadani receiving 153 votes and al-Aisawi getting 95. The Iraqi constitution requires an absolute majority—more than half of the 329 members—to win the speakership.
As a result, a second round of voting was held with 269 lawmakers participating. Al-Mashhadani won decisively, securing 182 votes to officially become the speaker of parliament.
Political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that lawmakers from the State of Law coalition, led by Nouri al-Maliki, supported al-Mashhadani, creating an unusual alliance with former parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi.
Al-Halbousi, who leads the Takadum (Progress) Party representing the Sunni majority, held lengthy talks with Sunni leaders late Wednesday into Thursday. These discussions reportedly resulted in a consensus to nominate al-Mashhadani.
Initially, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan opposed al-Mashhadani’s election. However, he spoke with the party’s parliament members just hours before the vote, easing their objections.
Hours before the voting session, al-Mashhadani called on political blocs to support his candidacy to end a long-standing crisis. In contrast, rival al-Aisawi urged lawmakers to protect democracy by resisting any pressure on their political choices.
Parliamentary sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Maliki and al-Halbousi arrived at the parliament before the second round of voting to rally support for al-Mashhadani, including from Sunni lawmakers who initially backed al-Aisawi.
Lawmakers had repeatedly failed to elect a parliament speaker due to deep divisions within the Sunni bloc and attempts by Shia factions to push for a single Sunni candidate.
The Shiite “Coordination Framework” controls the 329-member parliament, despite differing views among its leaders.
Al-Mashhadani, a physician with an Islamic background, has re-entered the political scene nearly 16 years after his removal as speaker of the Iraqi parliament.
Born in Baghdad in 1948, he completed his education there before attending medical school in 1966. He graduated and became a first lieutenant in the Iraqi army in 1972, serving as a physician.
Elected as parliament speaker on Thursday, al-Mashhadani is the first legislative leader in Iraq since 2003 and previously held the position of president of the Arab Parliament Union in 2008.

 



Death Toll in Israeli Strikes in Central Gaza Rises to 25

01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy  Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Death Toll in Israeli Strikes in Central Gaza Rises to 25

01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy  Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The death toll from Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip rose to 25, including five children, as more bodies have been recovered.

Sixteen people had initially been reported killed in two strikes on Thursday on the Gaza Strip's central Nuseirat refugee camp, but officials from the Al-Aqsa hospital said bodies continued to be brought in.

Overall, the hospital said they had received 21 dead bodies from the strikes, including some transferred from the Awda hospital, where they had been brought the day before.

One of the strikes killed an 18-month-old and his 10-year-old sister — the children’s mother was missing as of Friday and the father was killed by an Israeli airstrike four months ago, the family told AP journalists at Aqsa hospital.

Strikes on a motorcycle in Zuwaida and on a house in Deir al-Balah on Friday killed four more, the hospital officials said, bringing the overall toll to 25.

The Israeli military did not comment on the specific strikes but said it had killed armed militants in central and southern Gaza Thursday.

Israel’s blistering offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, say health officials inside Gaza. They say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that a total of 55 people had been killed in the past 24 hours and that another 196 had been wounded.