Fresh meeting between parliament’s chairmanship, legal committee

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The legal committee started on Thursday a meeting with the parliament’s chairmanship and representatives of the political blocs and the UN in a fresh attempt to reach an agreement on the final formula of the election law, spokesman of the Iraqi Accord Front said. “We have to vote on the election law during today’s session,” Saleem al-Juburi told IraqiNews.com news agency. He expected that the parliament’s session today will be crucial on the law. Iraqi politicians have been turning up their rhetoric over Kirkuk, the oil-rich city that both Kurds in the north and Arabs in the south want to control. The dispute has caused a deadlock over the country’s election law, threatening to delay Iraq’s nationwide elections set for January. Any vote setback could, in turn, disrupt American plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, scheduled to ramp up after the vote. The immediate dispute centers on voting rolls listing who can vote in Kirkuk in the January national election. Kurds have favored using the 2009 voter registry, which probably reflects the Kurdish growth, while Arabs generally prefer the 2004 voter registry, when the Kurdish population wasn’t so large. That has delayed the necessary deal on the election law. Any delay in the election date could push back the U.S. withdrawal. U.S. officials have said that they are still hoping the Jan. 16th date will go forward but say their troop drawdown plan is not set in stone. As the election approaches, tensions have increased among lawmakers in Iraq. SH (S)/SR 1