The Iraqi parliament said on Wednesday that a key vote among MPs on a new electoral law intended to establish a more transparent system for polls due in January has been delayed until next week. The bill has stalled amid opposition among some members of parliament to the proposed new requirement for parties to give a full list of candidates to voters rather than just the name of their electoral list, the system used in the last general election in 2005.
"The vote on the new election law has been postponed until Monday," the parliamentary press office said. "Tomorrow, Thursday, will be last day of discussions on the new draft before Monday's vote." The head of the parliamentary judiciary committee, Bahaa al-Araji, a Shiite MP, had told AFP that the vote was originally scheduled for Thursday.
Kurdish demands for the incorporation of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk in their northern autonomous region have also proved a stumbling block in the debate on the new law, the head of the parliamentary bloc of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr said.
"The question of Kirkuk is an obstacle to reaching an agreement on the new law because the various communities in Kirkuk have not yet reached a solution," Nassar al-Rubaie told AFP. Kirkuk's Arab and Turkmen communities remain strongly opposed to Kurdish ambitions, which also extend to parts of neighbouring provinces.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution calls for a referendum to decide Kirkuk's fate but it has been put off at the recommendation of the United Nations. Earlier this month, MPs moved to retain the more opaque voting system used in 2005 but the move triggered the intervention of top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, who called for a change of heart.
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