BAGHDAD — Iraq's electoral authorities will on Monday, December 7, begin preparations for parliamentary polls early next year, after MPs finally approved a law governing the vote just minutes before a midnight deadline.
"Now the way is paved to conduct the election at a date to be determined by the presidency council," Deputy Parliament Speaker Khalid al-Attiya was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The presidency council will now set a date for the election, originally scheduled for January 16 but delayed over failure to agree on the new law.
The UN has proposed February 27 as the most "feasible" date for parliamentary elections while Samarrai had hinted it could be delayed to as late as March.
The constitution requires that the general election, the second since the 2003 US-led invasion, be held by the end of January.
The breakthrough came after MPs voted in favor of a new version of the long-stalled electoral law, just minutes before a midnight deadline by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi Hashemi to veto the old version.
"The law has been adopted with near-unanimity," said parliament speaker Iyad al-Samarrai in the Council of Representatives chamber.
He did not give a breakdown of the vote because it passed by a substantial majority.
Under the new law, the number of parliamentary seats will increase from 275 to 325.
It gives back to Sunni areas and seats that had been lost in the previous version, and also added seats in Kurdish provinces.
The legislation also allots 15 seats for religious minorities and blocs that garnered national support but did not win seats in individual provinces.
Hashemi had vetoed the first version on November 8 for unfair representation of millions of Iraqis who fled the country after the invasion, mostly Sunnis.
MPs subsequently passed a second version, which Hashemi threatened to veto, that upped the number of seats for Kurds but reduced that figure for Sunnis.
Welcome
The new compromise deal was welcomed by almost all sides of the political spectrum.
"I hope this is a step forward in the construction of the state of Iraq," Hashemi told the Iraqi al-Sharqiya television channel.
Deputy Speaker al-Attiya also cheered the move.
"This is wonderful and a huge achievement for Iraq."
A small group of Kurdish MPs, who had wanted more seats, did not vote in favor of the law, but Kurdish leaders welcomed the compromise.
"This is a victory for the political process," said prominent Kurdish politician Aala al-Talabani.
"This law gets us out of the political impasse."
The White House lauded the approval of the electoral law as a "decisive moment for Iraq's democracy."
American diplomats had pushed MPs to pass the law, with Washington seeking to avoid delays to the planned pullout of tens of thousands of its troops from Iraq in 2010.
IslamOnline
"Now the way is paved to conduct the election at a date to be determined by the presidency council," Deputy Parliament Speaker Khalid al-Attiya was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The presidency council will now set a date for the election, originally scheduled for January 16 but delayed over failure to agree on the new law.
The UN has proposed February 27 as the most "feasible" date for parliamentary elections while Samarrai had hinted it could be delayed to as late as March.
The constitution requires that the general election, the second since the 2003 US-led invasion, be held by the end of January.
The breakthrough came after MPs voted in favor of a new version of the long-stalled electoral law, just minutes before a midnight deadline by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi Hashemi to veto the old version.
"The law has been adopted with near-unanimity," said parliament speaker Iyad al-Samarrai in the Council of Representatives chamber.
He did not give a breakdown of the vote because it passed by a substantial majority.
Under the new law, the number of parliamentary seats will increase from 275 to 325.
It gives back to Sunni areas and seats that had been lost in the previous version, and also added seats in Kurdish provinces.
The legislation also allots 15 seats for religious minorities and blocs that garnered national support but did not win seats in individual provinces.
Hashemi had vetoed the first version on November 8 for unfair representation of millions of Iraqis who fled the country after the invasion, mostly Sunnis.
MPs subsequently passed a second version, which Hashemi threatened to veto, that upped the number of seats for Kurds but reduced that figure for Sunnis.
Welcome
The new compromise deal was welcomed by almost all sides of the political spectrum.
"I hope this is a step forward in the construction of the state of Iraq," Hashemi told the Iraqi al-Sharqiya television channel.
Deputy Speaker al-Attiya also cheered the move.
"This is wonderful and a huge achievement for Iraq."
A small group of Kurdish MPs, who had wanted more seats, did not vote in favor of the law, but Kurdish leaders welcomed the compromise.
"This is a victory for the political process," said prominent Kurdish politician Aala al-Talabani.
"This law gets us out of the political impasse."
The White House lauded the approval of the electoral law as a "decisive moment for Iraq's democracy."
American diplomats had pushed MPs to pass the law, with Washington seeking to avoid delays to the planned pullout of tens of thousands of its troops from Iraq in 2010.
IslamOnline
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