Iraqi Legislators Withdraw and Resign

Baghdad, Iraq, Apr. 3 (UPI) -- Iraqi state television said Sunday an unspecified number of legislators have either pulled out or resigned from the National Assembly. The channel quoted a member of the Shiite bloc in parliament, Hammam Hammoudi, as saying the legislators resigned either for security reasons or to protest their exclusion from the government being formed. He said the National Assembly would discuss finding others to replace them.

The announcement came shortly after the first elected parliament in Iraq in more than 50 years chose an Arab Sunni speaker, Hajem al-Hosni, in addition to Shiite and Kurdish deputy speakers.Al-Hosni received 215 votes out of 240 attending the 275-seat National Assembly in a secret ballot, ending a deadlock in which parliament had until Sunday failed to agree on a speaker.