Sunni politician Salim al-Jabouri was elected Iraq’s new Speaker of Parliament on Tuesday, state television reported, winning an absolute majority of votes from deputies, Reuters reported.
The position of speaker is the first of three leadership posts which Iraqi politicians were seeking to agree, three months after a parliamentary election. The other two posts are the presidency and the prime minister.
Nuri al-Maliki is seeking a third term as Prime Miniter but faces opposition from Sunnis and Kurds who say he has ruled for the Shi’ite majority at the expense of minority communities. Even rival Shi’ite parties want to unseat him.
The other posts to be decided are the presidency followed by the prime minister, but it was not immediately clear whether the planned vote for a new speaker was part of a wider deal to break the prolonged deadlock, the media reports said.
