Friday, August 27th 2010
Parliament speaker: No meeting until candidates for senior positions nominated
Sulaimaniya, The acting speaker of Iraq’s parliament speaker stated on Friday that he would not call on the lawmakers to convene unless the head if the parliamentary blocs agree on the name of candidates for the senior state positions.
Nearly six month after legislative elections, Iraq’s parliament has convened only one session. The meeting has been left technically open because the lawmakers could not agree on candidates for the offices of prime minister, president and parliament speaker.
Although a second session was to be held in late July, the heads of parliamentary blocs decided to indefinitely postpone the meeting.
Speaking to AKnews, Fuad Massoum said “Until the blocs reach an agreement among themselves I cannot ask them anything. In my last meetings with the heads of the blocs, I asked them one by one if they had any candidates for the position of the head of parliament and none of them had a positive reply.”
On Thursday, the office of Iraq’s vice president, Adel Abdul Mahdi, issued a statement saying he has an initiative to call on parliament members to meet and elect a parliament speaker and his two deputies.
On his part, acting speaker Massoum said he "appreciates and supports" Abdul-Mahdi's call.
"I hope that on Friday the lawmakers will assemble so that our issues are settled through the parliament…The legislators should put an end to the current suspension of the parliament and undertake their constitutional responsibilities," Massoum concluded.
Iraq’s political factions have failed to form a new government more than five months after parliamentary elections.
None of the country’s groups could gain the sufficient number of votes to set up a new government.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/177608/
Parliament speaker: No meeting until candidates for senior positions nominated
Sulaimaniya, The acting speaker of Iraq’s parliament speaker stated on Friday that he would not call on the lawmakers to convene unless the head if the parliamentary blocs agree on the name of candidates for the senior state positions.
Nearly six month after legislative elections, Iraq’s parliament has convened only one session. The meeting has been left technically open because the lawmakers could not agree on candidates for the offices of prime minister, president and parliament speaker.
Although a second session was to be held in late July, the heads of parliamentary blocs decided to indefinitely postpone the meeting.
Speaking to AKnews, Fuad Massoum said “Until the blocs reach an agreement among themselves I cannot ask them anything. In my last meetings with the heads of the blocs, I asked them one by one if they had any candidates for the position of the head of parliament and none of them had a positive reply.”
On Thursday, the office of Iraq’s vice president, Adel Abdul Mahdi, issued a statement saying he has an initiative to call on parliament members to meet and elect a parliament speaker and his two deputies.
On his part, acting speaker Massoum said he "appreciates and supports" Abdul-Mahdi's call.
"I hope that on Friday the lawmakers will assemble so that our issues are settled through the parliament…The legislators should put an end to the current suspension of the parliament and undertake their constitutional responsibilities," Massoum concluded.
Iraq’s political factions have failed to form a new government more than five months after parliamentary elections.
None of the country’s groups could gain the sufficient number of votes to set up a new government.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/177608/
