The bill, backed by most Arabs, would delay elections but install a quota system for the provincial council, apportioning seats for Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens. The province's administrative positions would be similarly distributed.
The Kurds dominate the province's government, largely because of the decision by Sunni Arabs, favored under Hussein, to boycott elections in January 2005 -- a move they now view as a blunder. There also have been accusations that thousands of displaced Kurds have been sent to Kirkuk in an effort to guarantee favorable results in any vote on the province's future.
Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said the Kurds were willing to delay Kirkuk's election and to divide administrative positions more equitably, but are opposed to a quota system for the provincial council. He said Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party had worked against them on Kirkuk. Hassan Suneid, a senior Dawa member, said the Kurds would have to accept the next round of voting in parliament, as long as the procedures were considered legal.
Suneid added that he walked out of the session because he disagreed with the secret voting.
U.S. officials have pushed for provincial elections in Iraq on the theory they would increase the loyalty of a greater portion of the population by giving Sunni Arabs a say in local government. Critics have charged that the Sunni boycott of the 2005 elections helped escalate the sectarian warfare that has dominated Iraq since.
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ned.parker@latimes.com
Times staff writers Caesar Ahmed, Saif Rasheed and Said Rifai contributed to this report.
