Parl., electoral commission take up provincial elections

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Members of the Iraqi Parliament’s Committee of Regions and Provinces on Thursday met with the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to discuss the possibility of holding provincial elections on time. “The majority of the committee’s members met with the IHCR, led by its President Faris al-Haydari, to tackle the possibility of holding elections as scheduled,” a parliamentary source told IraqiNews.com. Iraq’s Parliament on September 24 approved a long-delayed law to allow provincial elections to go ahead, but lawmakers scrapped a key clause that would have guaranteed seats for Christians and other minorities. Iraq’s Parliament has set a January 31 deadline for elections in 14 provinces, excluding the three Kurdish provinces and the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk. Leaders of Iraq’s minority communities claimed the law did not provide for their representation in the councils that would be formed after the vote. SS (P) 1