By NNN-KUNA,
Baghdad : The Iraqi parliament has approved by voting the electoral law for the provincial councils, resolving a protracted issue of local dissension.
Bahaa Al-A’raji, the head of the electoral committee of the parliament, told a news conference Wednesday that all the political trends reached a consensus regarding the law, on the basis of proposals presented by Iraq and the UN.
All the parliamentary coalitions ceded concessions to secure the consensus, he added.
The parliament had failed to hold voting on the law due to opposition by Arabs and Turkmen on the electoral supervision authority in the norhern city of Kirkuk. A previous, shelved draft law stipulated that the local administration of the city would take charge of the polls.
For his part, Mahmoud Al-Mash-hadani, the speaker of the parliament, told a news conference that the approval of the electoral law was a major step towards democracy in Iraq.
Officials said the representation of the minorities in the councils would be examined later, apparently alluding to the voting right of the Turkmen, many of whom live in Kirkuk.
The parliament, on July 22, voted in favour of an electoral law but the presidency rejected it because of opposition by the Kurds.