Iraqi party disbands amid speaker row

BAGHDAD, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A Sunni political party in Baghdad withdrew from a coalition following an offer to put candidates forward for the Iraqi Parliament speaker, officials said.

Khalaf al-Alyan, the head of the Iraqi National Dialogue Council, announced his party as well as a slate of independents were withdrawing from the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front, the Voices of Iraq news agency said.

"The INDC and the Independents bloc announce their withdrawal from the IAF due to its failure in performing its duty," Alyan said.

The IAF pulled out of the unity government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in 2007 over a series of political disputes and controversy regarding Planning Minister Ali Baban, who the IAF labeled as a "traitor" for refusing to step down along with his IAF counterparts.

The bloc returned to the government in July.

Meanwhile, INDC members said they would offer a replacement for resigned speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani.

Mashhadani had threatened to step down following a parliamentary row over shoe-throwing journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi but formally resigned amid pressure from lawmakers over a deal outlining non-U.S. troop presence in Iraq in 2009.

A U.S. deal with Iraq was secured earlier, putting the status of British and other forces in doubt. A deal Tuesday permits that troop presence through July.

The U.N. mandate for the multinational force in Iraq expires Dec. 31.