The Iraqi parliament on Wednesdayapproved the new provincial election law after reaching a consensus among the conflicted political blocs, an official in the parliament said.
"The representative council has unanimously voted in the new bill after the lawmakers reached a consensus over amendments of the controversial draft law," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
He said that all the sides in the parliament have agreed about the controversial issue of Kirkuk, which would have a separate law in dealing with the elections, after solving the power-sharing issue in the city.
Iraq was due to go on provincial elections on Oct. 1, but the country's parliamentary blocs failed to reach an agreement in time over controversial provincial election bill because of differences over the oil-rich province of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.
On July 22, the Iraqi parliament approved the law although the Kurds walked out protesting a secret vote exclusively held over anarticle dealing with the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Two days later, the Iraqi presidency council rejected the bill after a meeting held between Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi.
According to Iraq's constitution, the draft law should be delivered to the presidency council for an unanimous approval.
The council consists of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab and Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite.
Source: Xinhua
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