BAGHDAD — Iraq's presidential council dropped its objections Wednesday to a law that helps clear the way for provincial elections that are considered key to reconciling the country's ethnic and religious factions.
The unexpected announcement by the council, made up of the country's president and two vice presidents, follows intense lobbying by U.S. officials to make the power-sharing compromises needed to solidify a recent drop in violence.
U.S. patience with Iraq's fractious politicians is wearing thin as the war enters its sixth year. But Wednesday's decision offers American officials here a sign of progress, which they can use to make the case in Washington for time over the summer to assess the impact of U.S. troop withdrawals underway before pulling out more forces. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker will make their recommendations to Congress next month.
The measure, which defines the relationship between the country's 18 provinces and the central government, calls for elections by Oct. 1. Iraq's parliament approved it Feb. 13 under a package deal that included a $48-billion national budget and an amnesty plan for some of the mostly Sunni Arab detainees languishing in custody.
But the presidential council withheld its needed approval because of objections from Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a member of the main Shiite Muslim political party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni, are the other council members.
The dispute centered on an article that would give the prime minister the authority to ask parliament to remove a provincial governor. Abdul Mahdi argued that the provision was unconstitutional and that the authority to dismiss governors should rest with the provincial councils that select them, an aide said.
Abdul Mahdi's party, a strong proponent of decentralization, won control of most of the overwhelmingly Shiite south in the last provincial elections, in 2005. But the party faces a growing challenge from followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, who helped put Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in office.
Sadr loyalists had accused Abdul Mahdi and his party of trying to delay the elections to hang on to power.
The council, which must unanimously agree to any legislation before it becomes law, dropped its objections after receiving assurances that parliament would consider amendments to the law, said Nasir Ani, the panel's chief of staff.
