Iraq President Rejects Election Law

By Cernig

Iraq's Kurdish president, Jalal Talibani, has rejected the proposed law on provincial elections - making it unlikely there will be provincial elections before the UN mandate expeires or even before a new U.S. president takes office.

President Jalal Talabani's office released a statement criticizing parliament's passage Tuesday of the measure, which would set guidelines for the elections.

The measure had faced strong opposition from Kurdish lawmakers, who boycotted Tuesday's parliamentary session to protest a secret ballot held on a part of the law dealing with the Kirkuk region.

...Such legislation must be ratified by the three members of the presidency council -- which includes Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab; Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite; and Talabani, who is Kurdish.

"The president, who does not agree with such a law, which was voted on by 127 deputies who do not represent half of parliament, is confident that the presidency council will not pass it," Talabani's office said.

Tariq al-Hashimi is out of the country, as is Maliki. The bill has been returned to parliament to be reconsidered. More from Marc Lynch, who notes reports from the region that the Kurdish bloc are mightily pissed and might stage a walk-out, bringing down Maliki's government. However, Marc feels some kind of deal is the more probable outcome.

For me, this only underlines what I've been saying for some time now. Iraq will be highly unstable for years yet - but it's their country and their instability to solve or not as they choose. The Iraqis want occupation forces out, and we should do so. Cotton McCain feels otherwise, of course.