Baghdad: Kurdish lawmakers pushing for control of a northern oil-rich city boycotted a parliament session on Thursday that was to tackle a crucial election law needed for January's nationwide balloting, throwing into doubt the country's ability to pull off the upcoming elections on time.
The election law has been held up over one key issue - whether to use voter lists that favor the Kurds or the Arabs in the city of Kirkuk.
The city's Arab and Turkmen ethnic groups resent what they perceive as Kurdish efforts to take over Kirkuk, which Kurds see as historically theirs and even describe it as their "Jerusalem."
Next to Sunni-Shiite tensions in Iraq, the issue of Kirkuk and Kurdish-Arab disputes has become a key flashpoint in this fragile nation. A political deadlock now could delay the elections and open the way for new violence and instability.
"Some Arab lawmakers are insisting on making obstacles to reaching a solution, and we hold them responsible," said Kurdish lawmaker, Khalid Shawani.
"We refuse any solution if it is not according to the constitution."
The dispute in Kirkuk, which is claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen, is about whether all the people now living there should be allowed to vote in the elections in January.
