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BAGHDAD : Iraq's three-member Presidency Council said on Thursday it had rejected a provincial election bill, a move widely expected to delay October polls which are strongly backed by Washington.
"President (Jalal) Talabani, and his deputy Adel Abdel Mahdi, have agreed that the law of the provincial elections contains constitutional and procedural violations," a statement from Talabani's office said.
"Due to this, the two sides have agreed to officially reject the law," it said.
Mahdi's decision to back Talabani's call, involving returning the bill to parliament for redrafting, gives the Presidency Council a majority in rejecting it, even as they await the view of Council member Tariq al-Hashimi.
Talabani's announcement came after deputy parliament speaker Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya told AFP on Wednesday that the Presidency Council had decided to turn down the bill.
The rebuff means that elections in Iraq's 18 provinces, scheduled for October 1, will almost certainly be delayed while the law is reworked.
The veto is a setback for Washington and the administration of President George W. Bush which has been pushing Baghdad to hold provincial elections as a crucial step to national reconciliation.
"The Iraqis have said that they'd like to try to do it by the end of the year," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Wednesday.
"We think that that's important. We think that local elections would help in Iraq to further reconcile all the groups."
Parliamentarians have said elections would now likely be held early next year.
The original bill met with heavy political opposition when several MPs said a vote which passed a law in parliament on Tuesday had breached procedures laid down in the constitution because it was held in secret.
Kurds in particular were opposed to the bill because of disputes over how to constitute the provincial council of Kirkuk, the northern oil province claimed by both the Arabs and Kurds.
- AFP
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