国际英语新闻：Iraqi court orders parliament to resume sessions

BAGHDAD, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi federal court on Sunday ordered the country's parliament to resume as soon as possible, a court statement said.

The Supreme Federal Court decided that the decision, made by the elder speaker Fuad Masom in the first session of the parliament which stipulated that the session to be delayed till further notice, is unconstitutional, the statement said.

The court spokesman Abdul Sattar al-Berqdar told Xinhua that the parliament members are now "obliged to resume their sessions as soon as possible after the court made its decision today."

The Iraqi federal court made its decision after activists from the Iraqi nongovernmental civil organizations filed a lawsuit against Masom over his decision that led the country to a complicated political crisis.

The parliament's first session was opened on June 14, three months after the country's March 7 parliamentary election, but it only lasted for 18 minutes due to differences over the definition of the largest bloc and the government formation, and was delayed till further notice.

According to the Iraqi constitution, the parliament must elect its new speaker and his two deputies in the first session. Then the parliament under the new speaker must elect a new president who will later call on the candidate of the largest bloc for the prime minister post to form his cabinet.

However, the Iraqi parliamentary blocs insist to agree on the names of president, parliament speaker and prime minister, as one package before resuming the parliament session.