Iraq's parliament fails to agree on election law International

Thursday, October 22, 2009

By Suadad al-Salhy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament failed on Wednesday to agree on a law that will determine how the next election is run, raising fears of delays for the vote that could consolidate democracy after years of war.

The United Nations envoy to Iraq, Ad Melkert, said further delays in passing the law may call into doubt not only the January 16 election date, but also the credibility of the result.

"It is the collective responsibility of members of parliament to now rise to the occasion and be ready to account to the Iraqi people, who expect to exercise their right to express their preference in the upcoming elections," he said.

The election will be a critical test as Iraq emerges from more than six years of sectarian conflict unleashed by the U.S. invasion in 2003, ahead of a full U.S. withdrawal by end-2011.

"This situation is so embarrassing," said Faraj al-Haidari, head of the electoral commission. He said the body could wait at most another week before the election date would be in doubt.

Agreement over the framework for the election was initially thwarted by a dispute over what kind of voting system to use: open lists, under which voters can pick individual candidates; or closed lists, under which they can only pick parties.

This week the dispute has focused on how votes should be distributed in the contested oil-rich city of Kirkuk -- a flashpoint for possible conflict between minority Kurds and Iraq's majority Arabs.

Kurds view Kirkuk as their ancestral home and want it included in their semi-autonomous northern enclave. Arabs, who were encouraged by former dictator Saddam Hussein to settle in Kirkuk to dilute Kurdish influence, oppose such a move.

"UNACCEPTABLE"

Parliament referred the dispute over Kirkuk to a council made up of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Iraq's two vice-presidents and other political leaders.

"The political council will present us with a political solution that all the political parties will agree on," said Ayad al-Samarai, speaker of parliament and a top Sunni lawmaker.

"We still have time until Tuesday or Wednesday. We are optimistic. The election will take place on the scheduled date."

While political insiders said that Kirkuk might just be a convenient smokescreen for those opposed to other aspects of the election law, such as open lists, Shi'ite parties insisted the dispute was essentially between Sunni Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds.

"What's happened with the election law is unacceptable," said Kamal al-Saadi, a member of Maliki's Dawa party.

"Parliament has become the problem instead of part of the solution, and we should hurry to fix this problem through the election." Continued...