WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Wednesday welcomed the passage of a long-delayed provincial election law by the Iraqi parliament, saying it showed the country's fledgling democracy was making progress.
"We congratulate the Iraqi parliament for passing the provincial election law. We think it's a positive sign and certainly shows a maturing Iraqi democracy," Robert Wood, a State Department spokesman, told reporters.
The US administration has described provincial elections as a crucial step in building national reconciliation among the country's divided communities after the sectarian bloodshed of recent years.
The law passed by the Iraqi parliament on Wednesday sets a January 31 deadline for provincial elections in 14 of the country's 18 provinces.
Members of parliament agreed to a compromise that will exclude not only the disputed northern oil province of Kirkuk but also the whole of the northern Kurdistan region from the new legislation.
US officials had hoped for an earlier election date, and parliament had been aiming to pass the legislation in time to hold the polls on October 1. But deep rifts between the Kurds and their Arab and Turkmen rivals over arrangements for the process in Kirkuk torpedoed any agreement before the summer recess.
"We hope provincial elections will be held as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the year," Wood said.
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