Osama al-Nujaifi

The al-Nujaifi brothers' al-Hadba party contested the 2010 parliamentary election as part of the cross-sectarian Iraqiyya bloc, which became the largest parliamentary force. Iraqiyya, however, didn't manage to secure a clear majority to elect its Shiite leader Ayad Allawi to replace current prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. On 11 November 2010, after three days of pressure talk, al-Nujaifi was elected the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, obtaining 227 votes out of 295, with 30 MPs not attending the session. In turn, the power-sharing deal brokered by Kurdish politician Massoud Barzani secured al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani's posts.[6] In his first parliamentary speech, Nujafi however held al-Maliki's government responsible for the country's "fear, hunger, poverty and corruption," adding that Iraq was considered today "the most corrupt country in the world."[5]

In his first visit to the US as Iraqi parliament speaker, al-Nujaifi refused following protocol, denying to place a wreath on the Arlington Tomb of the Unknowns on the basis that he considered the Americans "an occupying force rather than liberators".[7] When he revisited Washington in early 2014 to discuss the ongoing Sunni insurgency in Al Anbar Governorate, he took a different stance, stressing the importance of the US role in Iraq "to support the political process developed in Iraq." He criticized the treatment of the Sunni Sahwa forces, who fought al-Qaeda in Iraq, though refused to join the Iraqi Army, until they were massively prosecuted by the al-Maliki government. "The policy of exclusion and marginalization of Sunnis and the arrest of thousands of them for illegal reasons provided a suitable ground for the return of al-Qaeda."[15]

Named "the inner circle's new face", Nujaifi by then was the highest-ranking Sunni politician of Iraq,[5] Within the increasingly fragmented Iraqiyya national bloc, al-Nujaifi's al-Hadba party shaped the new moderately Sunni Muttahidoon coalition, advocating a Sunni federal region in Iraq to contest the 2013 governorate elections. Seen by many as a future presidential prospect,[7] his new coalition however didn't succeed in playing a central role neither in the governorate elections nor in the 2014 parliamentary election. After a weeklong deadlock situation, al-Nujaifi agreed not to seek another term as parliamentary speaker, if al-Maliki also drops his premiership bid.[16] As the prime minister cleared the path, Salim al-Jabouri from the Muttahidoon-allied Diyala is Our Identity coalition became the new parliamentary speaker.

al-Nujaifi was assigned the post of one of the three Vice Presidents of Iraq, along with the former prime ministers al-Maliki and Allawi on 8 September 2014.[17] On 11 August 2015, these largely ceremonial posts were however altogether abolished as part of prime minister Haider al-Abadi's reform plans.[18] Later, he filed a complaint against the decision, considering it to be against the Constitution.[19] Also Nouri al-Maliki promised to cling to his post.[20] On 10 October 2016, the three posts of Vice Presidents were restored by the Supreme Court of Iraq which termed their abolition as unconstitutional.[3] On 12 May 2017, he announced the establishment of a political party dubbed "United for Iraq" in Erbil.[21]