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Legislators in Iraq block deal on election law
The country's political parties failed to agree on election laws on Tuesday, despite a proposed deal put together by the nation's top political figures the day before. The stalemate was another blockage in negotiations that have dragged on for weeks, threatening national elections scheduled for Jan. 16.
The official deadline for passing the election laws was Oct. 15. Elections can still be held on time if the parties agree on terms this week, but not much later, said Said Arikat, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, which proposed guidelines to break the logjam among the parties.
"This is really crunch time," Mr. Arikat said. "We have everything in place to conduct an election on time. With every passing day, it becomes more difficult." Any postponement in the elections carries the potential for slowing the withdrawal of American troops.
Legislators said that they would continue to meet, but that they were far from agreement.