Iraq’s general election was thrown into doubt on Wednesday after a law governing the planned January vote was vetoed, creating what the prime minister termed a “dangerous threat” to stability.
The war-torn nation’s electoral commission said it was stopping work at least for the time being, meaning that the ballot, the second national poll since the 2003 fall of late president Saddam Hussein, is likely to be delayed.
The latest vote setback will worry Washington, whose ambassador to Baghdad has already warned that further hold-ups could derail a scheduled withdrawal of combat troops by next August ahead of a complete military exit in 2011.
The US State Department expressed disappointment and urged Iraqi leaders to clear up concerns in order for polls to go ahead.
“We are disappointed at these developments related to [the] elections law,” spokesman Ian Kelly said.
“We urge Iraqi leaders and parliament to take quick action to [resolve] any outstanding concerns that have been expressed and this is so elections can go forward,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon too called for parliament to move swiftly to pass the necessary legislation.
“The secretary-general takes note of the presidency council’s decision to veto the Iraqi electoral law,” his spokesman Farhan Haq said. “He hopes that the Council of Representatives [parliament] will move swiftly to ensure that the law is adopted and the election can go forward.”
Iraq’s presidential council, composed of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and two vice presidents, one Sunni Arab and one Shiite, has demanded a greater say in the election for minorities and for nationals living abroad.
The insistence on securing the relevant change in the law governing the vote led Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi to veto the legislation.
“On November 15, I sent a letter to parliament asking for the law to be amended. Parliament said I could veto the contested first article [of the law], which is what I have done today,” Hashemi told reporters.
Iraq’s Sunni Arab community, which was dominant before the US-led invasion six years ago, puts the number of nationals abroad at around 4 million.
“The modification aims to make the representation of Iraqis abroad fairer,” Hashemi said. “It’s not only a matter of those displaced to neighboring countries but of all Iraqis of all confessions and religions who live abroad.”
Under the Constitution, any member of the presidential council can veto a proposed law a maximum of two times before the bill is returned to parliament for approval by a vote of at least 60 percent of members of parliament.
Parliament must now reopen debate on the bill and the electoral commission believes there is too little time before the scheduled mid-January polling date.
“The electoral commission is suspending all work, including registration of lists of candidates and printing of voting papers, until the adoption of an electoral law,” the commission’s administration chief Qassim Abudi said.
But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urged the election organizers to continue their preparations “without any delay.”
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