BAGHDAD (Agencies)
Iraqis will vote in a general election on Jan. 21 now that parliament has passed a law needed for a vote to take place, the head of the country's electoral commission said on Monday.
The ballot was originally set for Jan. 16, but electoral authorities said the delay in passing the law had made it impossible to organize by then. Parliament ended weeks of wrangling about the fate of the disputed city of Kirkuk and passed the electoral law on Sunday.
" We sent a letter today to the presidency and we have received confirmation in a telephone call that they accept the date " Falaj al-Haidari, head of Independent High Electoral Commission The law will govern the second national polls since the American-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein six years ago.
The environment in which the general election takes place is likely to be radically different from that of the previous national ballot in Dec. 2005.
Sectarian strife between the country's Shiite and Sunni communities was then rising and at its peak in 2006 saw an average of 63 people being killed each day, compared with less than 10 deaths per day so far this year.
Falaj al-Haidari, head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said the vote would be held on Jan. 21.
"We sent a letter today to the presidency and we have received confirmation in a telephone call that they accept the date," he said.
Investor sentiment was bolstered by parliament's passage of the ballot law, but the failure to resolve the issue of Kirkuk may cause massive headaches in the long run.
Kirkuk is viewed by ethnic Kurds as their ancient capital, and they want to make it part of their northern region. Kurdish leaders wanted to use up-to-date voter rolls in the election to reflect an increase in their numbers there since 2003, the year the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.
Arabs and Turkmen say the city should remain under central government authority and believe Kurds have deliberately tipped the demographic balance. They sought to use older voter records or guarantee scrutiny of the current voter registrations. |
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U.S. reaction The approval of the electoral law on Sunday was praised by U.S. President Barack Obama and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who said the vote was key to maintaining stability and helping Iraqis move towards a lasting peace.
Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, said the planned U.S. troop withdrawal can go ahead as scheduled now that the electoral law is in place.
"We're good to go on a January date," he told reporters in a conference call from the Iraqi capital late Sunday after the electoral law was approved.
"The concern of course was had these deliberations gone on, then new decisions would have had to be made about the (military) drawdown." |
