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BAGHDAD — Iraqi politicians have 48 hours to offer changes to a draft provincial elections law that has left Kurdish leaders at odds with the central government and delayed local elections planned for this fall, officials said Saturday.
The standoff is over how to allocate local council seats in the disputed region of Kirkuk, which Kurds claim as part of their historical homeland.
Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians are studying objections to the law and have two days to offer possible changes, said Khalid al-Attiyah, a Shiite deputy parliament speaker.
The negotiations aim to clear the way for the elections — which are strongly supported by Washington as a step toward political reconciliation.
The elections were scheduled for Oct. 1, but officials say the voting could be put off until December or later if a compromise isn't reached by Thursday, when parliament begins a monthlong recess.
Iraq's presidential council rejected the draft elections law and sent it back to parliament after President Jalal Talabani — a Kurd — criticized its passage. Parliament approved the law despite a Kurdish walkout to protest a secret ballot on a section dealing with Kirkuk.
The law says the provincial council in oil-rich Kirkuk should be divided equally among Kurds, Turkomen and Arabs. But Kurds and their allies, who currently hold a majority on the council, oppose that. The dispute has been a major factor in stalling the draft law.
It's the latest setback for efforts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government to overcome criticism that it has failed to take advantage of security gains to make political progress.
Kurds are also at loggerheads with the central government over a new oil law, which regards previous deals between the local Kurdish administration and foreign companies as illegal.
The leader of Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, led a delegation to Baghdad on Friday to try to settle differences over the elections and oil law. He is expected to meet with al-Maliki during his visit.
"We will discuss all these issues and more about the relations with the central government," said Fouad Hussein, a spokesman for the northern Kurdistan regional government.
The draft election law also would transfer security responsibilities in Kirkuk to military units brought from central and southern Iraq instead of those already there — an apparent move against Kurdish forces heavily deployed in the area.
The elections are expected to redistribute power in Iraq's 18 provinces in what is considered a necessary step toward reconciliation. Many Sunni Arabs boycotted provincial balloting in January 2005, enabling Shiite Muslims and Kurds to win a disproportionate share of power.
The oil law, which would set the rules for foreign investment in Iraq's oil industry and determine how oil revenues will be shared among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, has been stalled at parliament since February 2007.
The main Kurdish objections are over the rights of regional administrations to negotiate contracts with foreign firms. In the absence of a national law, the Kurds have signed more than 20 production-sharing contracts with several international oil companies since August 2007.
Also Saturday, Iraqi authorities imposed a vehicle ban in northwest Baghdad, a routine precaution against car bombings ahead of a Shiite religious festival on Tuesday. The ban lasts through Wednesday.
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Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
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