socialmedian: Deal on Kirkuk sets stage for Iraqi elections

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Deal on Kirkuk sets stage for Iraqi elections

Source: The Guardian

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

Iraqi legislators have finally agreed on a formula to include the bitterly contested city of Kirkuk in a national election in January, ending months of political wrangling and fears that the planned US troop pullout might be delayed.

However, the agreement struck in parliament tonight deals only with how to apportion votes in the semi-autonomous northern enclave, and did not tackle a decision on Kirkuk's fate.

The electoral deal sets a framework for the poll to be held, probably on 21 January instead of the original date of 16 January. It will be Iraq's second general election since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Kirkuk, an oil centre, was at the heart of a delay in the law being passed because of the tricky question of how to organise votes in the city, which is claimed as an ancestral homeland by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomans, but which has seen big demographic swings since the last reliable population breakdown was compiled more than half a century ago.

A total of 141 of the 275 Iraqi lawmakers voted in favour of the electoral law. The election in Kirkuk will be con

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