Shafaq News- Cairo/ Baghdad
The Arab Parliament elected Iraqi lawmaker Hanan Al-Fatlawi asthe fourth deputy speaker on Tuesday, making her the first woman to hold thepost since the body's establishment in 2012.
According to the IraqiParliament, Al-Fatlawi won the support of a majority of Arab Parliamentmembers after serving two consecutive terms. “Her election reflects Iraq'sstanding in Arab and international forums and recognizes her contribution tostrengthening joint Arab parliamentary cooperation.”
Al-Fatlawi, born in Babil province in 1968, began herparliamentary career in 2005 when she joined Iraq's Transitional NationalAssembly, which drafted the country's post-2003 constitution after the end of theBaath regime.
She gained national prominence after winning more than90,000 votes in the 2014 parliamentary elections in her home province of Babil,becoming the highest vote-winning woman in Iraq's electoral history. In 2015,she founded the Irada Movement and became the first woman to lead a politicalparty represented in Iraq's parliament. She currently serves as a senior figurein the parliamentary Reconstruction and Development Coalition (Al-Ima'arwal-Tanmiya) led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.