Iraqi speaker vetting delayed

BAGHDAD, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Iraqi lawmakers said Thursday meetings to vet a replacement for former Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani were rescheduled for the weekend session.

Rasheed al-Azawi with the Iraqi Accordance Front said Parliament would vet his party candidate for the position of speaker during a Saturday session, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.

Mashhadani stepped down in December following a parliamentary row over the fate of non-U.S. troops in Iraq after the expiration of the U.N. mandate governing multinational forces.

Members of the Shiite Sadrist Movement and Fadhila Party objected to the IAF position. Members of the Iraqi National Dialogue Council and a slate of independents withdrew from the IAF in December, which some considered a sign the Sunni IAF bloc had disbanded.

Azawi, however, contested those allegations, saying the position of Parliament speaker was part of his bloc's share in the government slate.

"There have been political balances agreed upon since the government was formed in 2006," he said.

Kurdish lawmakers backed Osama al-Nujaifi with the Iraqi National List for the speaker position.

Lawmakers had suggested candidates would be considered Jan. 10.