Iraqi parliament votes to replace speaker

Iraqi politicians today said that they had voted in a closed session to remove the speaker of parliament and replace him with another Sunni Arab.

The behaviour of the speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, has repeatedly embarrassed the government’s Sunni Arab partners and Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s coalition government would welcome his removal.

Three politicians said the Iraqi Accordance Front, parliament’s largest Sunni Arab bloc with 44 of the house’s 275 seats, had pledged to offer a replacement for al-Mashhadani within a week.

Al-Mashhadani, a former physician and an Islamist, is a member of the Accordance Front. He did not attend today’s session, which was chaired by his deputy, Shiite Khaled al-Attayah.

Al-Mashhadani will retain his seat in parliament.