Iraqi speaker row may head to courts

BAGHDAD, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The three-member presidential board in Iraq may send the results of a runoff vote for the speaker of Parliament to federal courts, lawmakers said.

Taha al-Luhaibi with the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front said President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents considered a request to send voting results to the federal courts to consider Iyad al-Samarrai for speaker, the Voices of Iraq news agency reports.

"Parliamentary bloc leaders met and agreed to send the results of the second voting round to the Parliament's presidential board, which will submit them to the Federal Court," he said.

Mahmoud Mashhadani stepped down from the position of speaker in December following disputes with rival lawmakers. Lawmakers in a runoff vote Thursday fell just short of the majority needed in the 275-member Parliament to nominate Samarrai in a runoff against Deputy Speaker Khalil Jadua.

Only 234 members were present for the Thursday session.

The absence of a speaker has left Parliament largely ineffective, causing a variety of issues ranging from calls to disband the legislative body to a failure to pass several provisions before its members.