Iraqi parliament

Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Baghdad said the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament's resignation will be rejected during the upcoming Parliament session and confidence in him will be renewed.

The Iraqi parliament will hold a session next Wednesday to vote on Mohamed Al-Halbousi's resignation and elect a deputy speaker, Sputnik reported.

A document issued by the Iraqi parliament today stated that the session next Wednesday will see voting on the Speaker of Parliament's resignation from his post, followed by electing the first deputy speaker of the Parliament.

Al-Halbousi had called earlier this month for a date for early parliamentary elections to be included on the agenda of the national dialogue session and the election of the provincial councils no later than the end of next year.

Al-Halbousi: The thought of resigning came to me, I didn't discuss it with anyone

Mohamed Al-Halbousi revealed that he was considering the resignation, but he did not discuss it with anyone, stressing the need for relations between political forces to be normal.

In a speech during Al-Rafidain Forum for Dialogue in Baghdad, on Monday, Al-Halbousi said, "I did not discuss the decision to resign with anyone," adding, "This step has always been on my mind."

Regarding the political crisis in Iraq, he commented, "The relations between the Iraqi political forces, which have been marred by many crises, must be normalized," stressing the need to revive them.

He also stressed that his resignation decision "won't obstruct the next parliament session."

The political crisis

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said his country is going through a "political crisis that may be the most difficult after 2003," according to the Iraqi News Agency.

"Iraqis and their honorable guests commemorated the fortieth anniversary of Imam Hussein, his family, and his companions, and the Iraqis conveyed a message about the meanings of patience, redemption, and sacrifice in their most wonderful forms, and they gave the world lessons in hospitality and courage," Al-Kadhimi said in a statement on September 17.

Al-Kadhimi also thanked Iraq's security forces who are "still deployed throughout Iraq to pursue terrorists while providing at the same time protection for pilgrims."

The head of the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq, Faiq Zaidan, called on September 10 for a review of the drafting of the articles of the constitution that caused the political impasse in the country against the background of the Sadrist movement’s demand to dissolve parliament and the coordination framework's insistence to form a government first.

The Federal Supreme Court of Iraq rejected on September 7 the lawsuit submitted by a number of leaders of the Sadrist movement calling for the dissolution of the Council of Representatives, citing that dissolving the Council is not within its competence.

Late last month, the supporters of the Sadrist movement in Iraq stormed the government palace, and the riot police were trying to get the situation under control, Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Baghdad reported.

"The supporters of the Sadrist movement are moving toward the Sanak and the Republic bridges in central Baghdad," Al Mayadeen's correspondent said, noting that the riot police were calling for reinforcements to the Green Zone.

Hundreds of the Sadrist movement's followers broke into Baghdad’s green zone shortly after the movement's leader, Muqtada Al-Sadr, announced his retirement from politics.