BAGHDAD, 4 April 2005 — Iraqi lawmakers ended days of bickering yesterday by electing a Sunni as the new Parliament speaker. But lawmakers, still facing the sticky questions of who gets what Cabinet posts, didn’t name the nation’s new president — likely Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani — and his two deputies, as they had hoped. They promised to do it on Wednesday.
Once named, Talabani and his deputies have two weeks to pick a prime minister, expected to be Shiite politician Ibrahim Al-Jaafari. Some lawmakers have expressed frustration at the slow progress, noting they only have until Aug. 15 to write a new constitution.
While the candidates for president and prime minister were nailed down weeks ago, lawmakers had stalled over who would get key Cabinet posts and how to reach out to Sunnis who largely boycotted the Jan. 30 elections or stayed home because of fears of attacks at the polls. Sunnis are believed to make up the backbone of the troubled nation’s insurgency, and were dominant under Saddam Hussein.
Some criticized yesterday’s choice of Industry Minister Hajim Al-Hassani, one of only 17 Sunnis in Parliament, saying the new speaker didn’t represent the Sunni community. Osama Abdulfatah, a 30-year-old architect, said Al-Hassani’s support last year of the US assault on the militant stronghold of Fallujah showed he “does not have beliefs, and will never do anything against his benefit.”
Even though his Iraqi Islamic Party pulled out of the government over the issue, Al-Hassani refused to leave his job.
“How could we just trust such a traitor?” Abdulfatah asked. Former nuclear scientist Hussain Al-Shahristani, a Shiite, and Kurdish official Aref Taifour were elected as Al-Hassani’s deputies.
While the Parliament speaker’s post isn’t one of the most coveted positions, lawmakers agreed they wanted a Sunni to hold the job in an effort to incorporate all of Iraq’s diverse ethnic and religious groups. But they spent more than a week arguing over the candidates, and a session on Tuesday to make a final decision ended in shouting and finger-pointing.
The election yesterday — carried out by secret ballot, with lawmakers allowed to choose up to three of five candidates — was a step toward rebuilding confidence in the nascent legislative body.
“It’s time for the patient, Iraqi people to be treated with the dignity that God has given them,” Al-Hassani said yesterday, accepting his new post. He urged his fellow lawmakers to work together, adding that “if we neglect our duties and fail, then we will hurt ourselves and the people will replace us with others.”
— With input from agencies
