Parliament seeks to resolve Iraqi electoral law dispute

MIDDLE EAST:THE IRAQI parliament is due to meet today in an attempt to resolve a dispute over an election law which must be adopted before the end of this month so that provincial polls can be held on schedule in October.

On Tuesday, 54 Kurdish lawmakers in the 275-member assembly walked out in protest against a proposal for a power-sharing formula for the disputed Tamim province where Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen are vying for control of the capital city of Kirkuk and its nearby oil fields.

The Kurds, who claim to be the majority, seek to delay the vote on a provincial council until a census is taken or a referendum is held to decide whether the province should remain under Baghdad's rule or join the Kurdish autonomous region.

The constitution provided for the referendum by the end of last year, but this was postponed due to opposition by Arabs and Turkomen, who form about two-thirds of the population of Kirkuk and environs.

They argue that the Kurds, who took control of the area following the 2003 US occupation, have tried to change the demographic balance by bringing in Kurds from outside who, the Kurdish leadership says, were driven from Kirkuk during the ousted regime. Arab and Turkomen parties say the majority of the newly settled Kurds are not originally from Tamim.

To ensure the election takes place as scheduled in the province, more than 100 Arab and Turkomen deputies introduced an amendment providing for the creation of a provincial council in Kirkuk of 10 Kurds, 10 Arabs, 10 Turkomen and two Christians.

The Kurds argue that this formula would under-represent their numbers. Mahmoud Othman, a member of the Kurdish bloc, said he and his colleagues would not attend today's session if the proposal is not dropped.

The Kirkuk issue is the most contentious in the electoral law debate. Agreement was reached on an open system allowing voters to select specific candidates rather than party lists and on a ban during the campaign on posters featuring religious figures. Last week, Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who supported a unified Shia list in previous polls, called for this ban. Legislators also, reportedly, agreed to reserve for women 25-30 per cent of provincial council seats.

Yesterday the US formally ended the 18-month "surge" by withdrawing the last of five additional combat brigades deployed to pacify the country. It handed control to Iraqi forces of Qadisiyah province south of Baghdad.