Iraq speaker stepped down voluntarily

BAGHDAD, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Members of the Sunni Iraq Accordance Front said Friday resigned speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani made his decision to step down voluntarily.

Mashhadani resigned Tuesday amid pressure from lawmakers over a deal laying the framework for a non-U.S. troop presence in Iraq in 2009. The U.N. mandate governing the multinational force in Iraq expires Wednesday.

Taha al-Lahiebi with the IAF said Mashhadani had faced pressure from members of the Sunni Islamic Party of Iraq Vice President Jalal Talabani but did not allow the IAF to defend the speaker, the Voices of Iraq News Agency said Friday.

The Sunni Iraqi National Dialogue Council and a slate of independents withdrew from the IAF Wednesday, citing a failure of national obligation.

The IAF withdrew from the unity government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in 2007 over a variety of political disputes but returned to the government in July.

"Mashhadani wanted to resign and I do not know whether the Islamic party pressured him, but he did not let us defend him," the IAF lawmaker said.

The speaker had threatened to resign during a parliamentary row over the fate of shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi.

The INDC offered its own slate of potential replacements for Mashhadani following its withdrawal from the IAF.