Baghdad - Iraq's presidential council on Tuesday decried the Iraqi parliament's failure to choose a speaker and urged all political parties to resolve the dispute by next week.

"The presidential council views the delay in electing the speaker of parliament with deep concern," the council said in a statement on Tuesday.

"As a symbol of Iraq's unity, the presidential council believes that any delay in the vote is harmful to the national interest."

The presidential council is comprised of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, and his two vice presidents, Tariq al- Hashimi and Adil Abdel-Mahdi, who are Sunni and Shiite, respectively.

"Important topics ... are stalled, waiting to be discussed and voted on," Tuesday's statement said.

Legislation cannot be passed until the parliament selects a new speaker, who must be a Sunni Muslim.

On Sunday, discussions on selecting a new speaker ended acrimoniously when six parliamentary blocs left the floor of the assembly.

The former speaker of Iraq's parliament, Mahmoud Mashhadani, resigned in December after a session to discuss freeing Iraqi journalist Montazer al-Zaidi devolved into chaos.

Al-Zaidi will face assault charges later this month for throwing his shoes at then-US president George W Bush in December.

The three called on all political blocs to meet on February 18 to resolve the matter. dpa sag ez ncs