BAGHDAD - The head of Iraq's
Independent High Electoral Commission warned that Thursday is the
deadline for parliament to adopt an electoral law if January's general
election is to be held on time.
"The electoral commission held
talks with the United Nations on Tuesday to discuss the timetable,"
IHEC chief Faraj al-Haidari told the private Al-Sharqiya television
channel.
"We must receive the law in the next two days, otherwise
we will be unable to hold the election on the scheduled date of January
16," he said.
"There is material relating to the election, and
international companies need time to print it. Fifteen thousand polling
stations have to be made ready for the election, as do 50,000
personnel."
The electoral law is supposed to be in place 90 days
before voting takes place. Constitutionally, the election must be held
by January 31.
MPs are deadlocked over the status of the oil-rich
northern province of Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed region along the
border with autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.
Kirkuk's majority Kurds
have long demanded incorporation into the autonomous region, arousing
fierce opposition from the province's Arabs and Turkmen.
"The
next two days are crucial," Haidari said. "If the new electoral law is
not adopted or if the amendments to the old law are not voted through,
that means it will be impossible to hold the election on January 16."
Parliament has already held several sessions to discuss the bill, but without a vote.
The
issue remains deadlocked despite intense lobbying from the United
Nations and the United States, as well as pressure from Iraqi religious
leaders and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.