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Iraqi parliament breaks deadlock to elect speaker

Baghdad municipality workers clean the site of a car bomb explosion in Baghdad’s Allawi neighborhood, Iraq, Monday, July 14, 2014. Parked car bombs killed civilians in commercial areas of Baghdad on Monday, as government forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters tried to dislodge militants from a small town north of the capital, officials said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) Baghdad municipality workers clean the site of a car bomb explosion in Baghdad’s Allawi neighborhood, Iraq, Monday, July 14, 2014. Parked car bombs killed civilians in commercial areas of Baghdad on Monday, as government forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters tried to dislodge militants from a small town north of the capital, officials said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

By Associated Press July 15, 2014 1 min read

BAGHDAD (AP) – Iraqi lawmakers have broken their deadlock and elected a new speaker of parliament – the first step toward forming a new government.

The legislature chose Sunni lawmaker Salim al-Jubouri as the new speaker with 194 votes Tuesday in the 328-seat parliament.

It was unclear whether al-Jubouri’s election indicated that a larger agreement had been struck among political blocs for the posts of president and prime minister.

Under an informal agreement that took hold after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the speaker’s chair goes to a Sunni, the presidency to a Kurd and the prime minister’s post to a Shiite.

Parliament is under pressure to move quickly to fill all three posts and form a new government that can confront the Sunni militants who have overrun much of northern and western Iraq.