Thursday, Oct 29, 2009

   (From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL) 

   By Gina Chon 

BAGHDAD -- Kurdish lawmakers said they will boycott an Iraqi parliament session on Thursday if members are asked to choose which voter-registration records to use to hold polls in the disputed area of Kirkuk.

A national election law has stalled over voting procedures in Kirkuk, a contested, oil-rich region in the north claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen. To move the legislation forward, parliament's legal committee and Speaker Ayad al-Sammaraie wanted lawmakers to vote Thursday over which voter-registration records to use in Kirkuk.

Sunni Arabs and Turkmen favor the 2004 records because that list doesn't account for a big population increase of Kurds in Kirkuk after that year. Under Saddam Hussein's Arabization policy, thousands of Kurds were kicked out of Kirkuk, but returned after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The other alternative would use records for 2005 or 2009, favored by the Kurds. On Wednesday, the Kurdish bloc, the second-largest in parliament, said a decision shouldn't be put to a vote but instead negotiated.

"If they vote on this, we will not enter the hall and we will boycott the session," independent Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said.

Parliament missed an Oct. 15 deadline to pass the elections law, which is needed to hold parliamentary polls as scheduled on Jan. 16. Election organizers say they need 90 days to prepare the vote. If a law isn't passed this week, they may have to consider delaying the polls or making other choices that could affect the quality of the elections, they have said.

The January elections are seen as a key indicator of stability and will determine the pace of a large U.S. drawdown expected next year.

Lawmakers were expected to continue talks late Wednesday and it was unclear whether any voting will be held Thursday.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

29-10-09 0438GMT