Iraq lawmakers end election law impasse

Iraqi lawmakers agreed a last minute deal to overcome divisions on a law allowing an election next year, reducing the risks to a U.S. plan to end combat operations in 2010.

With 10 minutes to go till a midnight deadline for one of Iraq’s vice presidents to cast a second veto of the law, Iraqi lawmakers, badgered and encouraged by U.S. and U.N. officials, scrambled to hammer out a deal.

Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, said he accepted the accord, which was voted on in a nailbiting session.

The parliamentary election, which should have taken place by the end of January according to the constitution but will likely be a month late, is seen as a milestone in Iraq’s young democracy as it emerges from bloodshed and U.S. control.

But rows over the allocation of parliamentary seats reopened deep sectarian and ethnic divides that had only just started to heal after years of war triggered by the 2003 U.S. invasion.

“This is wonderful and a huge achievement for Iraq. Now the way is paved to conduct the election at a date to be determined by the presidency council,” said Khalid al-Attiya, deputy speaker of parliament.

The polls had originally been due to be held in January, but the impasse has delayed them to an as yet unspecified date. The U.N. and electoral authorities have recommended Feb. 27.

A substantial poll delay could have affected U.S. plans to end combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, ahead of a full withdrawal by 2012. Delaying next year’s partial drawdown could make a planned U.S. military build-up in Afghanistan harder.

Hashemi on Nov. 18 vetoed the first draft of the election law because he felt the law did not provide enough representation to refugees, many of whom are Sunnis, like him.

Lawmakers from Iraq’s majority Shi’ite and minority Kurd communities then joined forces to pass an amended law that was seen as slap in the face to Hashemi because it reduced the number of seats allocated to Sunni areas. Hashemi had been expected to veto the law again, as a result.

But with 10 minutes to go before Hashemi’s deadline for casting the second veto expired, parliament agreed on a redistribution of seats that he found acceptable.

Hashemi congratulated parliament.

“I have agreed to withdraw the veto,” he said in a phone call to a television station.