Elections law OK'd by Iraq's parliament

BAGHDAD — Iraq's parliament overwhelmingly approved a provincial-elections law Wednesday, overcoming months of deadlock and giving a boost to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts.

Also Wednesday, gunmen opened fire on a group of Iraqi policemen and members of a so-called awakening council northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 18, Iraqi officials said.

U.S. officials have complained privately that Iraqi politicians have failed to take advantage of the sharp drop in violence — down 80 percent since last year, according to the U.S. military — to forge lasting power-sharing agreements.

The legislation had been bogged down in a complex dispute between Arabs and Kurds over power sharing in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which Kurds seek to incorporate into their semiautonomous region.

Lawmakers acknowledged the delay in passing the measure would make it difficult for the electoral commission to organize the vote and pushed back the deadline for it to be held until Jan. 31, 2009.

The measure still needs to be approved by the three-member presidential panel led by President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd who vetoed the last attempt by parliament to push through a measure despite a Kurdish walkout.

But Kurdish legislators agreed to the latest proposal, suggesting presidential approval was more likely.

Agreement was reached after Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and Turkomen lawmakers adopted a U.N. compromise to form a parliamentary committee to review disputes regarding Kirkuk separately so the elections could go ahead elsewhere.

The new law requires the committee to make recommendations for separate legislation on Kirkuk by March 2009. It also banned political parties from using religious authorities, mosques and government institutions as part of campaigning.

U.N. envoy Staffan di Mistura, who has shuttled relentlessly between the political blocs to pressure them to approve the law, told The Associated Press that preparations for the vote would begin immediately.

"Today is an important day for Iraq and democracy as the parliament found a compromise over election law," he said. "This will help Iraq and Iraqis to express their opinions by voting for their candidates in the provinces."

Parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni, said the law's passage showed that Iraq's fractured ethnic and religious groups could work together.