Iraqi parliament approves key election law

Jul 22, 2008, 13:40 GMT

Baghdad - The Iraqi parliament Tuesday ratified a key provincial election bill despite a walkout by members of the Kurdish Alliance bloc, local media reported.

Parliament also decided to delay a contentious provincial election in the oil-rich northern province of Tamim and its ethnically mixed capital Kirkuk.

A walkout by lawmakers from the Kurdish Alliance with a fifth of parliament's 275 seats delayed voting on the bill, which governs provincial council polls slated to be held in Iraq this autumn.

Kurds wanted to delay the provincial election until a census is taken in Tamim or a referendum is held in accordance with the Iraqi constitution on whether to integrate the province into Iraq's Kurdish Autonomous Region or to keep it under central government administration.

Kurds, claiming an ethnic majority in Tamim, were pushing for a delay in provincial polls while the Arab and Turkmen populations wanted elections in the province be held at the time of the nationwide provincial election.

The Iraqi government hopes the polls scheduled for October 1 will help ease communal tensions by giving a shar in power to religious and ethnic factions which boycotted the 2005 election.