Iraq's provincial elections on schedule

BAGHDAD, May 30 (UPI) -- Iraq's Parliament speaker said Friday there were technicalities delaying the adoption of provincial election laws, but they were still on schedule for October.

Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni with the Iraqi Accordance Front, said Parliament would vote on the provincial council laws by next week, citing "technical" reasons for the delays.

The Iraqi Constitution mandated provincial elections should immediately follow parliamentary elections, which were held in December 2005.

"There would be enough time to hold the provincial council elections (in) October," Mashhadani told Voices of Iraq.

The speaker added that the organization of the new Iraqi government was "wrong from the beginning" because low-ranking government officials were included in a sectarian quota system.

He said, however, that the decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form a new Cabinet was a "right decision that would help rebuild the nation."

Several parties withdrew from the Maliki government, including the Iraqi Accordance Front, in August over a series of political disputes.

Meanwhile, the head of the provincial committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Hashem al-Taei, said the scheduling of provincial elections depended in part on the security situation on the ground.

"Organizing the elections on schedule depends on the country's security situation, the readiness of the National Electoral Commission to carry out the polls, and the presidential board's endorsement of the provincial elections act," he said.