On Monday evening, members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives elected MP Adnan Fayhan as the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, following the election of Haibat al-Halbousi as Speaker in the first session of the sixth parliamentary term.
Fayhan secured 177 votes, defeating MP Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, who received 107 votes. There were 22 invalid ballots. Both candidates had submitted their nominations after the candidacy window for the position was opened.
Earlier, acting Speaker Amer Al-Fayez announced the opening of nominations for the First Deputy Speaker role, which was later closed, according to the Parliament’s media office.
A well-informed source revealed earlier in the day that the Coordination Framework forces had agreed to nominate the current governor of Babil, Adnan Fayhan, for the position as part of ongoing political understandings.
The source added that if Fayhan assumes his new role, the Asaib Ahl al-Haq movement intends to nominate Ali Turki as his replacement for the governorship of Babil.
Meanwhile, another source reported that the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s parliamentary bloc agreed during a meeting at the Parliament building to officially nominate Shakhwan Abdullah for the position of Second Deputy Speaker, also as part of the ongoing political agreements within the chamber.
Earlier in the day, the Council of Representatives elected Haibat al-Halbousi from the Taqaddum Party as Speaker, with 208 votes, after Muthanna Al-Samarrai, head of the Azm Alliance, withdrew from the race. The competition then narrowed to three candidates: Haibat al-Halbousi, Salem Al-Issawi, and Amer Abdul-Jabbar.
Al-Issawi received 66 votes, while Abdul-Jabbar garnered 9 votes. There were also 26 invalid ballots.