Sunni party to take Iraqi speaker position

BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said Wednesday a presidential council accepted the Sunni Iraq Accordance Front nomination for Iraqi Parliament speaker.

Former Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani resigned last week in the wake of a row with lawmakers over the legal framework for the presence of non-U.S. troops in 2009.

Hashimi, a Sunni, said his counterparts had expressed their views that IAF should take the position of speaker, the Voices of Iraq news agency said Wednesday.

"All sides agree that IAF's nominee should be the one accepted," Hashimi said. "The nomination process will move smoothly and with no problems."

Members of the Sadrist Movement of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr Tuesday objected to the IAF position, saying the party had all but disbanded following the Mashhadani resignation.

The Iraqi National Dialogue Council and a slate of independent lawmakers withdrew from the IAF, 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.

It was not immediately apparent whom the IAF had nominated for the position.