By Jamal Hashim, Xinhua,
Baghdad : The Iraqi parliament on Wednesday passed the controversial provincial election law and called for holding the vote no later than Jan. 31, 2009, a parliament source and lawmakers said.
“The representatives’ council has unanimously voted in the new bill after the lawmakers reached a consensus over amendments of the controversial draft law,” a source in the parliament told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Umer al-Jubouri, member of the Independent Arab bloc in the parliament also told reporters that “We have voted unanimously on the new provincial election law, in which we gave the electoral election commission the freedom to fix a date for the elections in the provinces, except in Kirkuk, in no late than Jan. 31.”
The elections had been scheduled for Oct. 1, but the dispute rose over how the polls should be conducted in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.
The former election bill, which was endorsed by the parliament and failed to pass the Presidency Council, said the provincial council in Kirkuk should be divided equally by 32 percent among Kurds, Turkomen and Arabs. But the Kurds, who currently hold a majority on the council, oppose that.
The new bill postponed the elections in the Kirkuk until a parliamentary fact-finding committee ends its mission in the province and submit its report to the parliament, Jubouri said.
The committee mission is to watch power-sharing and revise demographic changes and violations on private properties before and after 2003, and accordingly, there would be a separate law for the election in the province, he said.
The Kirkuk issue has been a stumbling block all along. On July 22, the Iraqi parliament approved the law although the Kurds walked out protesting a secret vote exclusively held over an article dealing with the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Two days later, the Iraqi Presidency Council rejected the bill after a meeting held between Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi.
According to Iraq’s constitution, the draft law should be delivered to the presidency council for an unanimous approval.
The council consists of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab and Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite.
PASSAGE WELCOMED
The passage of the bill was regarded by many as having marked a significant progress in Iraq’s reconciliation efforts.
The United States has been urging Iraqi politicians to attain a genuine national unity as the security is picking up.
Most of the Sunnis and a major Shiite bloc led by influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stayed away from the last election in 2005,enabling the Shiites and Kurds to have a dominant control across Iraq.
With the newly proposed elections of provincial councils, Iraqis hope that the reshuffle through peaceful voting would help assuage resentment and violent competition for control of power at local level.
The news was widely welcomed. “This law shows our determination to reach an agreement, and that we are able to solve problems in a democratic way. Kirkuk was the source of troubles, but now it became a symbol of nationalism and agreement,” said parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.
UN special representative to Iraq Staffan de Mistura said the bill will give the Iraqi people “a chance to express their own opinion.”
The United States rapidly welcomed the passing of the crucial law, saying the move showing sign of a maturing Iraqi democracy.
“We congratulate the Iraqi parliament for passing the provincial election law. We think it’s a positive sign and certainly shows a maturing Iraqi democracy,” Robert Wood, a State Department spokesman, told reporters.
“We hope provincial elections will be held as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the year,” Wood said.
UNCERTAINTY REMAINS
Nevertheless, uncertainty remains strong as for whether the parties will be able to hammer out a sound solution to the Kirkuk issue according to the plan.
With world oil prices hovering aloft, the central government and the Kurds are scrambling to cement the grip on energy sources.
The Kurds, strongly believing that the bonanza profuse with oil wealth should be incorporated into the adjacent Kurdish autonomous region, claim that toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered immigration of Arabs into the Kirkuk region.
However, Arabs and Turkomans accuse Kurds of exaggeration in repatriating their expelled people to the city to ensure majority in the oil region of Kirkuk.
The Kurdish government has signed contracts with foreign investors to tap the oil and gas resources in the three provinces under its control, despite that Iraq’s oil law is still in a deadlock.
The Iraqi government claims those contracts are illegal and warns that foreign companies cooperating with the Kurds will be banned from energy projects in other regions.
A referendum over the future status of Kirkuk has been repeated delayed. Handled poorly, the region could become a new flash point in the violence-plagued country.
Days after the parliament passed that previous version of the election law in July, a blast targeting Kurdish protesters in July killed more than 20 people and injured some 200.