BAGHDAD - Concerns from Iraq's Sunni bloc on Saturday saw MPs fail again to agree a law for next year's general election, fuelling doubts that the vote will go ahead on January 16 as planned.
The election is viewed crucial to consolidating Iraq's fledgling democracy ahead of a withdrawal of US combat troops by August next year and a complete pullout of American forces by the end of 2011.
A request from Sunni MPs for more time to study provisions governing the vote in Kirkuk, a disputed and ethnically-mixed province of Kurds, Sunnis and Turkmen, saw off hopes of the law being passed on Saturday.
Parliament speaker Iyad al-Samarrai, a Sunni, said MPs would reconvene on Sunday in a further attempt to agree the law.
"The Kirkuk proposal is aimed at settling the dispute but it came suddenly and we need time to study and frame those ideas," he said.
The vote is planned for January 16 but the date has been thrown into doubt because of wrangles over the electoral system to be used in what will be the second national poll since the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
MPs have been deadlocked over the status of Kirkuk, along the border with autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.
Kirkuk's majority Kurds have long demanded incorporation into the autonomous region, arousing fierce opposition from Arabs and Turkmen.
While Kurds favour using current voter registration lists and keeping Kirkuk as one electoral constituency, Arabs and Turkmen want 2004 or 2005 records to be used, or for Kirkuk to be split into two constituencies.
On Tuesday, the head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission said parliament must adopt the law this week if there is to be enough time for preparations for the election to take place on January 16.