Baghdad, Jan 10 (IANS): The Iraqi parliament has held the first session in its fifth legislative term, signaling important progress in forming a new government.

A total of 228 lawmakers in the 329-seat Assembly attended the session which was held on Sunday afternoon under the chairmanship of Khalid al-Darraji, reports Xinhua news agency.

During the session, parliament re-elected Mohammed al-Halbousi as the Speaker.

Al-Halbousi won by an overwhelming majority of 200 votes while Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a former speaker, secured only 14, with the remaining ballots confirmed invalid.

According to the Iraqi Constitution, the Council of Representatives, or Parliament, must elect its Speaker, and his first deputy and second deputy by an absolute majority of the total number of the lawmakers.

According to Iraq's power-sharing system, the first deputy must be from the Shia community and the second from the Kurds.

Parliament should also elect a new Iraqi president from the candidates by a two-thirds majority of its members within 30 days of the first session.

According to the power-sharing system, the President should be reserved for the Kurds, the speaker for the Sunnis and the Prime Minister for the Shias.

The new president will ask the largest parliamentary alliance to name a prime minister-designate to form a government within 30 days.

The Iraqi parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for 2022, were held on Octember 10, 2021 in response to months of protests against corruption, poor governance, and a lack of public services.