Nearly four months after the election, Iraq’s major political parties have again delayed the first session of parliament, as the parties still can not even agree on who will be the Speaker of the Parliament.

The parliament session was supposed to be held today but at the last minute officials told the press that no session would be held until the major parties agreed on a president, premier, and parliamentary speaker.

Parliament initially convened in mid-June, in an 18 minute session which lasted just long enough for the new MPs to be sworn into office, and then immediately recessed. They have not met again since.

Since the election the three major parties have had a number of meetings over the possibility of forming coalition governments, but none of the talks have accomplished anything, and the agreement seems as remote today as it did the day of the election.

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