Lawmaker: Iraqi elections will likely be delayed

Nov 5, 2009, 13:32 GMT

Baghdad - Iraqi parliamentary elections now scheduled for January 16 will likely be delayed, an Iraqi lawmaker said on Thursday, as wrangling over the disputed region of Kirkuk continued.

'The case of Kirkuk is still the biggest obstacle on the election law,' Sunni Muslim lawmaker Osama al-Nujaifi told the German Press Agency dpa. 'Vast differences between the positions of Arabs and Turkmens, on one side, and Kurds, on the other, remain.'

Parliament postponed discussion of the election law yet again on Thursday as deputies continued to seek a compromise on voting in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk and the surrounding province of al-Tamim.

As the debate drags on, the possibility of the elections being held on time becomes more remote. Under the Iraqi constitution, a law must be passed 90 days before the elections, which must be held by January 31.

Many Iraqi Kurds hope to make Kirkuk, and its nearby oil fields, the capital of a future independent state, calling it their 'Jerusalem.' Arab and Turkmen politicians view the city and surrounding al-Tamim province as integral parts of Iraq.

Voters in Kirkuk did not vote in previous elections, after the question of voting in the city proved too sensitive to solve in time.

Massoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, has warned that the issue could spark a civil war if not resolved peacefully. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called the dispute over Kirkuk and similarly divided provinces 'the most serious issue' now facing Iraq.

Debate has centred on whether voter registration rolls from 2004 or 2009 should be used. Arab and Turkmen politicians look with suspicion at a dramatic increase in Kurdish voters during the intervening five years, and want the 2009 rolls examined.

Kurdish politicians have said they would agree to such a measure only if the rolls were examined across the country.

The United Nations has proposed at least two compromise solutions. The most recent would see Kirkuk vote with the rest of the country, but would award a quota of seats to all ethnic groups in the diverse region, and would make the results provisional, subject to a review of the voter registration rolls.

'So far we don't have any clear agreement,' al-Nujaifi said. 'We hope to resolve this bone of contention over the next few days.'

Lawmakers have sought a negotiated compromise for fear that an election law passed over the objection of one of the groups could force either Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself an ethnic Kurd, or Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim Arab, to intervene.

US Vice-President Joseph Biden has phoned Barzani and Iyad al-Samarrai, the Sunni speaker of the parliament, to encourage them to accept the UN proposal. US Ambassador Christopher Hill and other US officials have met with representatives of all the groups concerned regarding the impasse.

Al-Nujaifi on Thursday described these meetings as 'unwanted interference.'

'It can only lead to bad results,' he said.