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

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i 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 ...

. 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 n ...

district of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

. 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 Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

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 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. 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