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dpa
Baghdad
Iraq’s recently elected parliament met on Sunday for its first session, about three months after early elections in which pro-Iranian groups suffered significant losses.
The results sparked street protests from supporters of the political parties which fared poorly in the parliamentary polls, brought forward in response to months-long street protests in favour of reform.
Last month, the Iraqi federal court approved the results of the October election, and confirmed the victory of the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr’s bloc secured 73 seats in the 329-strong parliament, according to the final results.
That was well ahead of the second-placed Sunni al-Taqdum (Progress) coalition, which garnered 37 seats, meaning al-Sadr is likely to form the next government.
Parliamentarians from al-Sadr’s bloc on Sunday walked into the assembly in the capital Baghdad wearing white sashes symbolising death shrouds, following the tradition of Mohammed al-Sadr, the late father of Moqtada, witnesses said.
Some independent lawmakers, meanwhile, reached the assembly riding tuk-tuks, or motorized rickshaws, from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-government protests that erupted in October 2019, the witnesses added
Tuk-tuks were used to transport the injured during the violent demonstrations.
Members of the parliament, which has a four-year mandate, took the constitutional oath at Sunday’s session headed by MP Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, being the oldest lawmaker, pending the election of a speaker.
However, al-Mashhadani adjourned the session after an altercation between the al-Sadr lawmakers and those of the pro-Iran alliance, the
Coordination Framework, Iraqi media reported.
Al-Mashhadani, 71, later suffered an unspecified health problem and was hospitalized, Iraq’s state news agency INA said without details.
He suffered the problem after a spat erupted over nominations for the assembly’s new speaker and deputies, parliamentary sources said.
By custom, Iraq’s parliamentary speaker is a Sunni, the prime minister is a Shiite and the president a Kurd.
Many Iraqis have little faith in politics and had not expected the recent election to change the balance of power.
Oil-rich Iraq has been struggling with economic and political crises for years.
Baghdad
Iraq’s recently elected parliament met on Sunday for its first session, about three months after early elections in which pro-Iranian groups suffered significant losses.
The results sparked street protests from supporters of the political parties which fared poorly in the parliamentary polls, brought forward in response to months-long street protests in favour of reform.
Last month, the Iraqi federal court approved the results of the October election, and confirmed the victory of the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr’s bloc secured 73 seats in the 329-strong parliament, according to the final results.
That was well ahead of the second-placed Sunni al-Taqdum (Progress) coalition, which garnered 37 seats, meaning al-Sadr is likely to form the next government.
Parliamentarians from al-Sadr’s bloc on Sunday walked into the assembly in the capital Baghdad wearing white sashes symbolising death shrouds, following the tradition of Mohammed al-Sadr, the late father of Moqtada, witnesses said.
Some independent lawmakers, meanwhile, reached the assembly riding tuk-tuks, or motorized rickshaws, from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-government protests that erupted in October 2019, the witnesses added
Tuk-tuks were used to transport the injured during the violent demonstrations.
Members of the parliament, which has a four-year mandate, took the constitutional oath at Sunday’s session headed by MP Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, being the oldest lawmaker, pending the election of a speaker.
However, al-Mashhadani adjourned the session after an altercation between the al-Sadr lawmakers and those of the pro-Iran alliance, the
Coordination Framework, Iraqi media reported.
Al-Mashhadani, 71, later suffered an unspecified health problem and was hospitalized, Iraq’s state news agency INA said without details.
He suffered the problem after a spat erupted over nominations for the assembly’s new speaker and deputies, parliamentary sources said.
By custom, Iraq’s parliamentary speaker is a Sunni, the prime minister is a Shiite and the president a Kurd.
Many Iraqis have little faith in politics and had not expected the recent election to change the balance of power.
Oil-rich Iraq has been struggling with economic and political crises for years.
