Baghdad, April 3, SPA -- Iraqi lawmakers elected IndustryMinister Hajim al-Hassani, a Sunni Arab as parliament speaker Sunday, ending days of deadlock and moving forward on forming a new government two months after the country's historic elections. Former nuclear scientist Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite,and Kurdish leader Aref Taifour were elected asal-Hassani's deputies. The three were chosen by secret ballot, with lawmakerswriting three candidates on pieces of paper that weredropped into a box. The ballots were then read out loud andmarked down, one-by-one, on a large, white board. The three top candidates _ Al-Hassani with 215 votes;al-Shahristani with 157, and Taifour with 96 _ wereelected, according to Jawad al-Maliki of the Shiite-ledUnited Iraqi Alliance. Forty-three parliament membersdidn't attend Sunday's session, but it wasn't immediatelyclear why they were absent.--SPA1146 Local Time 0846 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/251703