BAGHDAD — Parliament cleared the way Wednesday for provincial elections this year that could give Sunnis a stronger voice and usher in vast changes to Iraq’s power structure.
The new law — which set the vote for Oct. 1 — is one of the most sweeping reforms pushed by the Bush administration and signals that Iraq’s politicians finally, if grudgingly, may be ready for small steps toward reconciliation.
Passage of benchmark reforms on healing the country’s sectarian and ethnic rifts — along with a reduction in violence — were the primary goals of the 30,000-strong U.S. troop increase that President Bush ordered early last year.
Violence has dropped significantly, but political progress languished until the logjam broke Wednesday by the narrowest of margins.
The outcome of the October elections is likely to reshape Iraq’s political map.
Sunnis, who sat out 2005 elections, could claim a much stronger role in Iraqi political affairs. Already, Sunnis have provided critical help in security by joining the U.S.-led battles against al-Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgents.
Among Iraq’s majority Shiites, the election could be an important test of strength for rival factions fighting for control of oil-rich southern Iraq.
The Bush administration hailed the law’s passage. A joint statement in Baghdad by the U.S. Embassy and American forces “warmly” congratulated the Iraqis on the legislation and called it a “significant commitment to address important issues and find political bases on which to move forward.”
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker voiced satisfaction that his labors — pushing and prodding Iraqi politicians — were showing results.
“These are difficult issues. They required a lot of effort, a lot of compromise, but they are important steps forward,” he said at a news conference shortly after the vote.
The provincial elections and powers law was bundled together with the $48 billion 2008 budget and another measure that grants limited amnesty to prisoners being held in Iraqi custody.
Kurds, who operate from a semiautonomous region in the north of the country, insisted on the unusual legislative maneuver because they feared getting double-crossed on a deal that maintained their 17 percent share of the national budget.
The provincial law calls for new elections in all Iraq’s provinces, except those in the Kurdish region. The newly elected councils will then elect an executive committee and appoint a governor, the top provincial official.
Most important, the law would let provinces band together into regional bodies that would begin making many decisions that now rest with authorities in Baghdad.
It was widely expected, as well, that many of the Pentagon’s new Sunni allies in places like Anbar province would hotly contest for seats this time around, after snubbing elections in 2005.
Parliament immediately adjourned for five weeks after the contentious measures were passed. They still must be approved by Iraq’s three-man presidency council.
In the southern city of Basra, an Iraqi interpreter for CBS News was handed over to authorities Wednesday, but a British journalist working for the network remained in captivity, said police Brig. Gen. Shamkhi Jassim.
