Iraq’s vice president vetoes election law

Anthony Shadid
Washington Post
November 18, 2009

[efoods]Iraq’s vice president on Wednesday vetoed legislation to organize the country’s parliamentary elections in January, throwing the law back to a Parliament that had haggled for months before finally passing it last week.

The veto by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi was the latest wrinkle in growing criticism over the law by the country’s biggest minorities, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. Both groups are effectively demanding the allocation of more seats to their blocs in the next parliament, which is almost assured of having a Shiite Muslim majority.

On Tuesday, Kurdish officials threatened to boycott the vote in the three provinces they control in northern Iraq unless they were granted a greater share of seats.

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