BAGHDAD — After nearly a dozen delays and a final, rowdy
session, Iraq’s parliament on Sunday passed a law setting national elections
for January, averting for now a political crisis that threatened to unravel the
country’s slow progress toward stability.
Approval of the law eases a growing source of concern for
the Obama administration. President Barack Obama is considering sending 34,000
more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and successful elections here are key to a
major reduction in U.S. combat forces in Iraq by next summer.
The elections, now scheduled for Jan. 23, had been held up
by an explosive dispute over the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, where both Arabs
and Kurds claim a majority. Lawmakers resolved the disagreement for now by
agreeing to use voter rolls from 2009, and not a 2004 voter list compiled
before many Kurds had moved into the region.
The lawmakers also resolved another key issue: how to list
candidates on the ballot. Under the new law, candidates will be listed by name
— a so-called open list — and not by party affiliation, a “closed
list” in which voters do not know who the individual candidates are. The
decision to use an open list will make it more difficult for religious-based
parties to win support.
“Today we have been able to achieve one of the most
sought-after points regarding the elections and that is the open list. And it
is a grand day for Kirkuk. It will not be deprived of its right in national
elections,” said Khalid Shwani, a Kurdish lawmaker and prominent figure in
negotiations over the law.
“Of course there were many compromises. No one can
reach an accord without making some concessions,” said parliament member
Fawzi Akram, from Iraq’s Turkomen minority.
Iraqi and U.S. officials expressed relief Sunday.
“This is good news. This is an achievement for all
Iraqis, and for the political process,” said Sadiq al-Rikabi, an adviser
to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
U.S. ambassador Chris Hill and Army Gen. Raymond Odierno,
commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, issued a statement congratulating the Iraqis.
Hill, in a conference call with reporters, said, for now,
the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq could proceed as planned next
year. “Had these deliberations gone on, some new decisions would have had
to be made” about U.S. troop withdrawals, he said. “We knew that a
crucial element of the schedule was that we were able to be here in strength
through the election.”
The Kirkuk issue, which generates deep emotions among Iraq’s
Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, had repeatedly stymied efforts to pass the law.
Many Kurds were expelled from the area under Saddam Hussein,
but have returned since the March 2003 U.S. invasion — in numbers other Iraqis
say exceed their previous population. The decision to use voter registration
lists from 2009 was a victory for the Kurds.
The dispute, however, was only postponed, not resolved.
The law set up a fact-finding committee to examine voter
lists in Kirkuk and other disputed areas, and compare them with 2004 versions.
The panel is to complete its work in a year, long after the national elections,
potentially setting up another stand-off.
The days leading up to the final vote showed how Iraqi
officials, after years of sectarian violence, still struggle between defending
their ethnic or religious group and representing the interests of the country
as a whole.
Sunday’s final session was raucous, with lawmakers shouting
and a few storming out of the session. One of the most contentious issues was
whether internally displaced Iraqis, who number as many as 2.5 million, could
cast votes in their former home regions. In the end, it was decided they could
not.
As late as Sunday afternoon, it was still uncertain
lawmakers would pass the bill after so many failed attempts.
“There have been nine sessions in which we failed to
reach any results — this is the tenth, inshallah (God willing) it will be the last,”
said Salim al-Juburi, a spokesman for the main Sunni bloc in parliament.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
