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BAGHDAD — Iraqi politicians pushed ahead Friday with a compromise over a contested election law, awaiting approval from Kurdish officials on a deal that would increase the number of seats in parliament as a way to mute criticism and allow a vote crucial to U.S. plans in the country to go forward.
Even with a potential breakthrough, the parliamentary election originally scheduled for Jan. 16 will be delayed until at least mid-February and perhaps later, Iraqi lawmakers and election officials said.
In a statement Friday, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, whose veto of the law last week cast Iraqi politics into crisis, called the preliminary agreement “a great step in the right direction.”
