BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers Wednesday overcame months of infighting to pass a law setting the stage for provincial elections by early next year, an achievement sought by the United States to correct lopsided power structures blamed for sectarian violence.
As legislators overwhelmingly approved the bill, attackers armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns ambushed an Iraqi National Police patrol north of Baghdad, killing 14 policemen and eight U.S.-allied paramilitary fighters, according to the U.S. military. The ambush was a sign of the challenges ahead as Sunni Arab insurgents loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq try to derail political and security gains.
Passage of the election bill has gained urgency as the U.S. seeks to reduce its troop presence in Iraq and as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki adopts a new assertiveness aimed at cementing his government’s sovereignty. Redrawing the political landscape is considered key to demonstrating that Iraq is ready to function as a democracy in which Shiite Muslims, Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Christians and others share power. Inequities resulted from many groups’ boycott of the last vote in 2005.
In Washington, President Bush lauded the approval.
“Nothing is more central to a functioning democracy than free and fair elections,” Bush said. “Today’s action demonstrates the ability of Iraq’s leaders to work together for the good of the Iraqi people and represents further progress on political reconciliation.”
The law’s passage came with some major hurdles attached. One such issue involves the northern city of Kirkuk, which Kurdish leaders want as part of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region. The city’s Sunni Arab and Turkmen populations oppose the idea.
“In every great day there is a cloud,” Steffan de Mistura, the United Nations’ special representative, said of the postponement.
But the parliament speaker, Mahmoud Mashadani, said lawmakers’ ability to keep the Kirkuk dispute from derailing the bill should be lauded.
The law mandated that a parliamentary committee review the Kirkuk issue and by March make recommendations to resolve it. Elections also will be delayed in the three provinces that make up Kurdistan — Dahuk, Irbil and Sulaymaniya — and in Kirkuk’s Tamim province.
Other significant aspects include guaranteeing women 25 percent of provincial council seats; banning the replacement of candidates’ pictures with those of ayatollahs or other religious leaders not associated with a party in the election; and having people vote for individuals rather than parties.
