Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has been appointed as the President of the Iraqi Parliament after a full year of disagreement over a candidate and failing to resolve the issue more than three times.

According to the parliament’s media office, al-Mashhadani received 181 votes, compared to 43 votes for Salem Al-Essawi.

The session on Thursday included a second round to select the new president, after no candidate secured the required number of votes to win in the first round.

In that round, al-Mashhadani led by 153 votes over Al-Essawi, who received 95 votes, while independent MP Amir Abdul Jabbar garnered 9 votes, and there were 15 invalid votes.