Deferral of Kirkuk decision allows progress

It was a very important success that the Iraqi parliament approved the country's new electoral law on Sunday, which cleared the way for new elections to be held in January next year. Incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki is the favourite to win, and he would welcome a new independent mandate so as to be able to move forward on many issues that Iraq has to deal with.

Parliament's vote on the electoral law put an end to years of wrangling since most of the country was ready to agree to a new electoral system months ago, but a total breakdown had occurred over how to handle the vote in oil-rich Kirkuk. The Kurds want the city to be incorporated into the regions that they dominate and the Arabs want Kirkuk to stay as part of the non-Kurdish regions. The heart of the electoral dispute is that Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens have been moving back into the city, with all sides alleging that this is designed solely to win votes, and many of these people are not genuine residents.

The result of the January elections in Kirkuk will be vital in determining which way Kirkuk goes long term. If pro-Kurdish members of parliament (MPs) are voted to power, Kirkuk will move towards the Kurdish regions. If the city elects Arab MPs, the opposite will happen. This problem was delaying the whole country's future, so the Iraqi MPs agreed to compromise in order to get the elections under way.

The compromise the new law allows is that the result in Kirkuk will be investigated by an electoral panel, which will be allowed to judge if any votes are invalid, and the panel will be allowed to disqualify votes cast by people who are not legal and proper residents. The success of the new law is that the rest of Iraq can move on, while the dispute over Kirkuk is shelved for now.