Iraq MPs to meet Thursday

On Thursday Iraq’s parliament will meet to “elect the president,” a press release from speaker Mohammed Al-Halbussi’s office said on Tuesday, after months of political impasse.
More than a year after the last general election in Iraq, Halbussi’s office said Thursday’s parliamentary session would have “a single item on the agenda, the election of the President of the Republic.”
Iraqis last voted on October 10, 2021 in an election triggered by a wave of mass protests against endemic corruption, rampant unemployment and decaying infrastructure.
Ahead of Tuesday’s surprise announcement, the United Nations mission had urged political factions to end the deadlock paralysing the oil-rich country, warning that “Iraq is running out of time.”