Iraq's 3-member presidential council agreed on Friday to ratify the country's provincial elections law, paving the way for a long-awaited vote to be held by the end of January, officials said. The polls had been scheduled for Oct. 1st, but the law governing how the vote should be conducted stalled in parliament over how to treat the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, where control is disputed by Kurds, Arabs and ethnic Turkmen. President Jalal Talabani and Vice Presidents Adel Abdel Mahdi and Tareq al-Hashemi were all present at the meeting, which was also attended by Massud Barzani, president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
Parliament adopted a revised version last month which puts off a decision on Kirkuk while authorizing the election in other provinces. "The presidency council has agreed to ratify the provincial elections law," the head of the presidential office, Naseer al-Ani, said.
The 3-member council has the power to veto laws. Talabani is a Kurd, Abdul-Mehdi is a Shiite Arab and Hashemi is a Sunni Arab, representing the country's three main ethnic and sectarian groups.
Talabani used his veto power to reject a previous version of the bill in July after Kurds, angry over the Kirkuk issue, boycotted the parliamentary session that passed it.
Officials at the meeting suggested a clause that guaranteed council seats for Christians and other minority sects, known as article 50, could be added to the bill. Parliament removed the guaranteed seats for minorities from the bill, prompting street demonstrations by Christians last week. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has asked for the quotas to be restored.
"There has been agreement to ratify the law and send it to parliament with the suggestion of the addition of article 50," said Laith Shubbar, an official at Abdul-Mehdi's office.
The elections, which will select provincial councils across Iraq, will provide clues on how Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish factions will fare in national polls scheduled for late 2009. Elections will be held early next year in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. The new law excludes the disputed northern oil province of Kirkuk and the three Kurdish provinces of Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah.