• Iraq
  • May 26, 2009
  • 4 minutes read

A New Secretary-General Replaces Tarek Al-Hashemi

A New Secretary-General Replaces Tarek Al-Hashemi

 The Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) has announced the election of Dr. Osama El-Tekriti as a new Secretary-General to replace the vice-president Tarek Al-Hashemi who was appointed since 2004.
 
The party said, in an official statement on Sunday 24.05.09, that “the Shura Council of the party held a meeting according to the internal system to hold the final stages of elections of the party leadership, which resulted in the winning of Osama Tawfiq El-Tekriti to be appointed as the Secretary-General”.
 
It added that the head of the parliament Iyad Al-Samarraei won the post of Deputy Secretary-General and there has been a renewal for Mohsen Abdel Hamid as the Head of the Shura Council of the party, in addition to the winning of a number of members with the membership of the party’s political bureau.
 
These elections are periodic elections of the IIP, which emanates from the Muslim Brotherhood group, are being held every four years where the Secretary-General and his Deputy, Head of the Shura Council of the party and members of the political bureau.
 
In the statement, the IIP praised the former Secretary-General of the party Tarek Al-Hashemi who lead the party under the toughest conditions with worthiness that lacks these days, and was a great example in nationalism, impartiality and scarification, pointing out that it was Tarek who requested the exemption from the post “acknowledging the great responsibility he has as a Vice-President of the Republic”, as he wasn’t free for the party due to his business in the government’s position.
 
In the contects, there were hints to the desire of Al-Hashemi, who was appointed as a Vice-President of the Iraqi Republic in 2006, desire to take the post of the President of the Republic, pointing out that he had introduced this matter to Arab and regional countries.
 
This step is in the interest of Al-Hashemi as a Vice-President of the Repulic in a time during which the country is preparing for the general elections of the end of the year.
 
It is worth noting that IIP stems from the MB, which is one of the most prominent party for the Sunni Arab parties in Iraq and it participates in the political process as it has most of the important positions for Sunni Arabs, especially the position of the Vice-President, Head of the Parliament and Head of the Presidential office, which is occupied by Naseer El-Ani. A number of the officials of the party were subject to assassinations after entering politics during the occupation, while Sunni leaders back then called the parties that represented them to boycott the political process.
 
The IIP had also participated in the legislative elections which were held in 2005 as one of the largest components of “the Iraqi Accordance Front” which included “The Iraqi People’s Conference” led by Adnan Al-Dulaimi and the “National Dialogue Council” led by Khalaf El-Alyan, but the party was exposed to a setback in the elections of the provincial councils which were held last January.
 
Osama El-Tekriti (member of the house of representatives of the Accordance Front) enjoys good and extensive relations with Iraqi political blocs and is described as the “harmonious personality”, was born in Tekrit 1939, graduated from the Faculty of Medicine – Baghdad University in 1963, completed his post-graduate studies in the University of London, joined the Muslim Brotherhood group in 1952, left Iraq in 1972 as he led MB in Iraq and worked on the reorganization of the Islamic Party abroad until he became president of the party in the period between 1991 and 2001.