BAGHDAD – Iraq's presidency council passed a critical law Wednesday to organize provincial elections that were originally scheduled for Oct. 1 and now are likely to be held sometime early next year.
Approval of the law fulfills a major U.S. government benchmark and marks an important advance in the Iraqi political sphere, which has lagged behind improvements in security.
Despite the law's stated deadline of Jan. 31 for elections in 17 of Iraq's 18 provinces, there may be a further postponement, according to the Independent High Electoral Commission.
"It's not possible to implement the provincial election this year because the time left is not enough to finish the work plan," said Qassim al-Aboudi, the commission's executive director.
The commission has yet to receive a list of candidates, which it then must approve, and it needs to hire some 300,000 people to staff the vote on election day.
"We are doing our best and we're working very hard to prepare everything before January 31. But if we can't finish our work we will inform the parliament and ask them to set another date for the election," al-Aboudi said.
After approving the law, the presidency council decided to send a separate bill to parliament to restore a deleted article that assures minority representation in provincial assemblies. Christians across Iraq objected to the removal of the clause and even staged a demonstration on Monday to demand representation.
The council plans to propose the law to parliament this week, said Nasir al-Ani the chairman.
Some powerful parties fear coming provincial elections will dethrone them.
In Anbar, the Awakening movement, largely credited with fighting off al-Qaida in Iraq and stabilizing the western province, sees the elections as an opportunity to rise to political power. But its rise will likely mean the demise of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni party in Iraq.
The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council is the country's most powerful Shiite party.
Even with final approval of the elections law, other political hurdles remain. The parliament has been unable to pass an oil revenue-sharing law or amendments to the constitution, both long overdue.
In other developments Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew herself up in the provincial capital of Diyala province, killing 10 people on a street that has already been attacked by suicide bombers at least 16 times in the last five years, including three times this year by women, according to the police in the province.
The U.S. military had a slightly lower toll than the Iraqi police, saying in a statement that the bomber killed seven people.
The bomber — the 17th woman to detonate a suicide bomb in Diyala this year, according to official statistics — detonated her explosives near the front of the Court of Appeals building in Baquba, Diyala's capital, on a street that has a number of government buildings and is closed to cars. It has become known as the "street of suicide bombers and car bombers" because there have been so many explosions there.
Leila Fadel is the Baghdad bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers. The New York Times contributed to this report.
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