Baghdad - As political jockeying among Sunni parties continues, the Iraqi parliament remains without a speaker and unable to conduct its business.

Abd al-Karim al-Samrai, a lawmaker with the Iraqi National Accord on Tuesday announced that he had filed a lawsuit with the Iraqi Federal Court to force a decision on the issue on procedural grounds.

Meanwhile, 25 of al-Samrai's Sunni rivals in parliament, led by the former speaker, Mahmud al-Mashhadani, have formed a new coalition to force an end to the dispute, Baghdad's Shabab al-Iraq newspaper reported on Monday.

Iraqi law leaves the selection of the speaker of parliament to Sunni lawmakers, and parliamentary procedures require a speaker for the parliament to conduct its business, leaving the assembly paralysed for more than two months.

Al-Mashhadani resigned as speaker of parliament on December 24 after a chaotic dispute over whether Iraqi journalist Montadher al- Zaidi should be tried for throwing his shoes at former US President George W Bush. (dpa)