Ayad al-Samarrai ( ar, إياد السامرائي; born 1946) is a

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Arab Iraqi politician, who was the chairman of the

Iraqi Accord Front The Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front (Arabic: جبهة التوافق العراقية ''Jabhet Al-Tawafuq Al-'Iraqiyah'') also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Pa ...

parliamentary group, and since July 2011 is the Secretary-General of the

Iraqi Islamic Party The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq as well as the most prominent member of the Iraqi Accord Front political coalition. It was part of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and is part of the ...

. He was elected as the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament on April 19, 2009, and served until June 2010.

Early life

Samarrai was born in 1946 in the

Adhamiyah Al-Adhamiyah ( ar, الأعظمية, ''al-aʿẓamiyyah''; BGN: ''Al A‘z̧amīyah''), also Azamiya, is a neighborhood and east-central district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad. Adhamiyah ne ...

district of Baghdad. He graduated in 1970 from the University of Baghdad with a Bachelor of Science from the Mechanical Engineering Department.

Exile

Samarrai lived in exile in Leeds Britain in 1995, when he was elected secretary-general of the party.Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP)
, ''Niqash'', 2005-11-07, accessed on 2007-07-07 Prior to the

2003 Invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

he was appointed to the American-backed opposition ''

Follow-Up and Arrangement Committee The Follow Up and Arrangement Committee was an alliance of Iraqi opposition groups formed in the run up to the invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first ...

''.

Return to Iraq

In September 2006, he was appointed as a member/ second deputy chairman of parliamentary review committee considering amendments to the

constitution of Iraq The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq ( ar, دستور جمهورية العراق Kurdish: دەستووری عێراق) is the fundamental law of Iraq. The first constitution came into force in 1925. The current constitution was adopted on Se ...

. In July 2007, he was elected head of the Iraqi Accordance Front parliamentary group, replacing

Adnan al-Dulaimi Adnan al-Dulaimi ( ar, عدنان الدليمي, 1932 – 3 May 2017) was a Sunni Iraqi politician who became prominent following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein. He and his supporters largely focused on ...

. On 24 May 2009, he was elected as Deputy of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

References

Speakers of the Council of Representatives of Iraq Iraqi Islamic Party politicians Iraqi Accord Front politicians University of Baghdad alumni People from Baghdad Iraqi Sunni Muslims Living people 1946 births {{iraq-politician-stub