Impasse in Iraq threatens election
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s Parliament failed again yesterday to approve a law to regulate a national election in January, deepening doubts about whether the nation can hold the vote on schedule.
US military officials have said a postponement of the country’s Jan. 16 parliamentary election could delay the withdrawal of US troops out of fear for Iraq’s political stability.
Hamdia al-Hussaini, a member of the Independent High Electoral Commission, the government agency that organizes elections here, said she would wait until Parliament met on Sunday to decide whether to postpone the election. Faraj al-Haideri, the head of the electoral commission, had warned earlier that if a law was not passed by yesterday, he would recommend a delay because there would be insufficient time to print ballots and make other preparations.
The stalemate continued to be caused by one of the most thorny of Iraq’s problems: the divided city of Kirkuk in the north. Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmens are all seeking control of the surrounding province, which sits atop billions of barrels of oil.
It appeared briefly as if legislators had found a solution. The chairman of Parliament’s legal committee, Bahaa al-Araji, briefed reporters yesterday afternoon on a complex deal that included awarding Turkmens and Arabs one extra legislative seat each. And as a benefit to Kurds in the province, 2009 voter registrations would be used to determine eligibility.
But as Araji was stepping up to a lectern to announce the agreement, a pair of Kurdish lawmakers approached, telling him that they had not approved it.
The news conference was canceled. Not long after, members of Parliament left the building.
