IRAQ 7 Mar 2010 Iraq due to hold vital post-war parliamentary election

Iraq set a January date for an election for the country's 275-seat unicameral Council of Representatives, then changed it in December to March. Whenever the election happens, the potential for violence and boycotts is high. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Da'wa al-Islamiya Party and its allies made big gains in recent local elections, and is expected to do well again in this second post-Saddam legislative election. The new parliament will elect a prime minister and cabinet.

Officials were forced to postpone the elections after lawmakers spent months arguing over a new law that provides guidelines for the vote.

Kirkuk is one of several touchy issues. Kurds claim ethnically divided Kirkuk, with its oilfields, as their historic capital. They want to attach it and other disputed territories to their largely autonomous Kurdistan region. Baghdad and the city's Arab and Turkmen residents reject the demands, and the impasse threatens both armed conflict and an election delay. Parallel elections in the region have been suggested as a way to keep the election on schedule.

The Kurdistan region held parallel parliamentary elections on 30 Jan 2005 in the first post-Saddam legislative election. It was largely boycotted by Sunni Arabs, resulting in an easy victory for Shia parties and Kurdish groups. Sunnis' losses in the recent provincial election increase the odds of their boycott of the January vote. Some of al-Malaki's rivals could also boycott the election.

United States President Barak Obama has accepted a recommendation by US officials in Baghdad to maintain substantial military forces in the country until after the election to help guarantee safe balloting.

When the vote is over, the US expects to speed up the troop withdrawal. All US troops are due to leave Iraq by the end of 2011 under the terms of the US-Iraq security agreement. UPDATED DEC/09

RELATED READING:

Iraq-Kirkuk impasse seen to threaten unrest (AFP 16 Jul 2009)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5goj4ZwWrHOHZzVb16XXCdLzQGzsg

Iraq sets election date of January 2010 (BBC 18 May 2008)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8055840.stm

Iraqi premier campaigns with tenacity, wrath (Washington Post/CBC 25 Jun 2009)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/25/politics/washingtonpost/main5112634.shtml