Iraq's parliament votes to replace "rude" speaker

BAGHDAD, June 11 (Reuters) Iraq's parliament voted today to replace speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani because of his ''rude behaviour'' towards deputies, officials said.

The removal of Mashhadani, a member of Iraq's minority Sunni Arab sect, was unlikely to have any effect on the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki or on the delicate powersharing system between Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Shi'ites.

But it comes at a time when parliament is under pressure from Washington to pass oil revenue-sharing and provincial elections laws aimed at drawing minority Sunni Arabs more firmly into the political process.

Mashhadani's Shi'ite deputy will be acting speaker until a successor is found.

The outspoken Mashhadani was often involved in televised shouting matches with members of parliament and lawmakers had complained he was being disrespectful.

He is considered a moderate politician who has called on Sunni insurgents to join in dialogue with the government, and urged parties in the fractious Shi'ite-led ruling coalition to ''start talking the same language''.

But Sunni Arab lawmakers criticised him for speaking out against Sunni hardliners in parliament.

Mashhadani was not immediately available for comment.

Lawmakers, including those from Sunni Arab political parties, voted to give Mashhadani one week's leave while the Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni Arab bloc in parliament, finds a successor, a parliamentary official said.

The official, who asked for anonymity, said 113 of the 168 members at today's session had voted to remove Mashhadani.

''We got fed up with his rude behavior,'' he said, when asked what had triggered Mashhadani's sacking.

Members of parliament said the final straw came yesterday, when Mashhadani's bodyguards pushed Feryad Mohammed, a Turkmen deputy, as he was walking down a corridor in parliament.

When Mohammed complained to Mashhadani, the speaker dismissed him out of hand, they said. Mohammed took the matter to other colleagues who called for Mashhadani's removal.

''The Accordance Front met today and we decided to ask him to resign. Other members including ours were really getting angry at him,'' an Accordance Front official told Reuters.

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