Iraq Sunni blocs boycott parliament over speaker

BAGHDAD, June 24 (Reuters) Iraq's two Sunni Arab political blocs boycotted parliament today and said they would not return until ousted speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a member of the largest Sunni bloc, was reinstated.

The Sunni Accordance Front holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament while the Iraqi National Dialogue Front has 11.

''The (Accordance) Front has decided it will not attend the sessions of parliament until the case of Mashhadani is solved in an appropriate way that ensures his return to run the sessions,'' the bloc said in a statement.

The National Dialogue Front said its position was the same.

The boycott will add to tensions in parliament at a time when legislators are under growing pressure from the United States to pass major laws aimed at drawing minority Sunni Arabs more firmly into the political process.

The Accordance Front stressed in the statement that it was not formally suspending its participation in parliament.

It had initially backed a vote on June 11 to replace the outspoken Mashhadani, who was often involved in televised shouting matches with lawmakers. Officials said at the time he was removed because of his ''rude behaviour''.

Mashhadani had been given one week's leave while the Accordance Front found a successor. The bloc had agreed to do so, but decided yesterday it wanted him to remain speaker.

It was unclear what caused the reversal, but deep divisions exist among Iraq's Shi'ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish politicians.

The Accordance Front has previously said it was considering quitting the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki because it believes the concerns of Sunni Arabs are not being addressed.

A Shi'ite faction loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which holds 30 seats in parliament, suspended its membership in the legislature earlier this month in protest at the bombing of a revered Shi'ite mosque in the city of Samarra.

Iraqi and US officials have blamed Sunni Islamist al Qaeda for the attack on June 13.

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