Sunni blocs meet tonight to issue a position on what happened inside Al-Mashhadani’s office.
A political source reported on Monday that Sunni bloc MPs will meet tonight to issue a position on the disagreement between the parliament speaker and his deputy.
The source told Shafaq News Agency, “The Sunni blocs’ representatives will meet tonight to issue a position on the events that took place inside the Speaker of Parliament’s office.”
He added, “The origins of the incident date back to a verbal altercation over the phone between Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and his deputy, Mohsen al-Mandalawi. The latter arrived at al-Mashhadani’s office to continue the argument over statements regarding the Popular Mobilization Forces retirement law and other issues.”
Earlier on Monday, a parliamentary source revealed that a verbal altercation broke out inside the House of Representatives between Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, First Deputy Speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi, and a number of Coordination Framework MPs, leading to the postponement of today’s session.
The source told Shafaq News Agency that the dispute erupted over Al-Mashhadani’s recent statements regarding the political process and elections.
Prior to that, al-Mashhadani said in a televised interview on Dijlah TV that Iraq was set to witness demonstrations next month, and that we might resort to an “emergency government” if security turmoil occurred in Iraq. He also confirmed that the United States had sent messages to all political leaders regarding the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), indicating that the US approach sought to integrate the PMF into the security forces, not restructure it.
Independent MP Alaa Al-Haidari told Shafaq News Agency, “The suspicious statements issued by Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, who represents the highest authority in the Iraqi state and has made multiple media appearances, constitute a failure on his part.”
He added: “We demanded that the Speaker of the Council offer a public apology to the Iraqi people for insulting the Iraqi identity, which is more than 5,000 years old. This identity has been tainted by the blood of Imam Hussein and the martyrs. We will not accept insults to this identity. Al-Mashhadani must immediately apologize to the Iraqi people. If he does not, we will collect signatures to remove him from his position.”
Shafaq.com