Iraq parliament again fails to pass electoral law

The US is getting quite anxious about this process since the main withdrawal from Iraq is supposed to take place 60 days after the election. If the election is late so may be the withdrawal. Even if the bill goes through today it would seem that election cannot take place until near the end of February.


Iraq MPs again fail to vote on new election law


Baghdad, Dec 5 (AFP) Iraq's parliament met today to vote on a new electoral law for polls early next year but no quorum was reached and the session was postponed until tomorrow, speaker Iyad Samarrai said.

"There are only 113 members present, and therefore no quorum. A new session will take place tomorrow at 11 am (1330 IST)," he told MPs.

There are 275 seats in the Iraqi legislature, and at least 138 members must be present for a session to go ahead.

President Jalal Talabani had called today's session to vote on a draft law to govern legislative elections, urging MPs to quickly pass the law, without which the general election can not proceed.

The United Nations on Wednesday proposed February 27 as the most "feasible" date for parliamentary elections, nearly a month later than the deadline set by the constitution.

Iraq election delayed complicating US pullout timetable

The US forces are supposed to stay so that there will be security for the elections. However, the US forces are there and security is getting worse which is why the elections are postponed. This is all very convenient. It keeps the Maliki government in power and the US forces in Iraq. The American public however may begin to catch on after while and this could cause political troubles for Obama. However, most Americans probably have other matters on their mind at present!
I wonder if the referendum on the status of forces agreement is also postponed. That was supposed to be this summer. No doubt it would be convenient to postpone that as well.


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Iraq Election Delayed, Complicating US Pullout Timetable
Posted By Jason Ditz
The Iraqi government has announced today that the national parliamentary elections, which were supposed to be held later this year, will be pushed back until January 30, 2010. Others had fought to push the elections back even further, as much as a year, citing the growing violence and the economic turmoil facing the nation.
The delay may push the selection of the next Iraqi prime minister until mid 2010, imperiling the Obama Administration’s plans to remove significant portions of the American military force from the nation by August 31, 2010.
President Obama had previously agreed to leave the bulk of America’s soldiers in the nation until after the national election. Top US commander in Iraq General Ray Odierno said that the pullout from Iraq was predicated on the ability of Iraq to conduct “legitimate, credible elections,” and that the military should remain for at least 60 days after to ensure that the losers of the elections didn’t resort to violence. Such a plan would seem to leave the already pared-back pullout scheme woefully optimistic, and the election delay may provide yet another excuse to keep the war going indefinitely.
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