Baghdad, Dec 9 (DPA) Iraq’s presidential council has once again postponed the date it will hold parliamentary elections, but this time the delay will be for only one day, to March 7.
“There was an agreement to hold elections on March 6,” Presidential Chief of Staff Nasser al-Aini told Iraq’s official al-Iraqia television late Tuesday night, hours after the March 6 date was announced. “But after a second meeting in the afternoon, it was decided to postpone (the date) for one day only, until March 7.”
Al-Aini said he expected a presidential decree to be issued Wednesday to formalise Sunday’s adoption of an elections law, after months of tense political wrangling.
Kurds had objected to the March 6 date since it would have fallen on the anniversary of a peace treaty between Iraq and Iran that Kurdish politicians said led to violations of Iraqi Kurds’ rights, Baghdad’s Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.
Iraq’s electoral commission had initially scheduled the elections for mid-January, but a standoff between the country’s Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, and Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers over the distribution of seats in the new parliament forced a delay in the polls.
Following intense pressure from the US and the UN, Iraqi politicians reached a compromise solution late Sunday night, minutes before the midnight deadline.
