Education
He graduated in 1970 from the University of Baghdad with a Bachelor of Science from the Mechanical Engineering Department.
He graduated in 1970 from the University of Baghdad with a Bachelor of Science from the Mechanical Engineering Department.
He was elected as the speaker of the Iraqi Parliament on April 19, 2009, succeeding Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani. Samarrai was born in 1946 in the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad. Samarrai lived in exile in Leeds Britain in 1995, when he was elected secretary-general of the party.
Prior to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq he was appointed to the American-backed opposition Follow-Up and Arrangement Committee. In September 2006 he was appointed as a member/ second deputy chairman of parliamentary review committee considering amendments to the constitution of Iraq. 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.