BAGHDAD, July 23 (UPI) -- Kurdish lawmakers in the Iraqi Parliament Wednesday called for another round of voting on the provincial election laws, calling the previous vote illegal.
Parliament Tuesday, following a series of delays, voted to approve provincial election laws. The Kurdish bloc in Parliament stormed out of the Tuesday sessions in protest of a closed-door vote on the issue. Only 127 of the 140 members present voted to approve the measure. There are 275 members in the Iraqi Parliament.
Lawmakers also decided to postpone elections in the northern city of Kirkuk indefinitely, Voices of Iraq reported.
"The (Kurdish bloc) will present a request to the Speaker of the Parliament Mahmoud al-Mashhadani to repeat the vote on the provincial councils elections law and not to postpone the Kirkuk elections," said Saad al-Baranzaji, leader of the Kurdish bloc in the government.
Lawmakers are divided over the status of Kirkuk city. Kurdish lawmakers wish to incorporate the city into the Kurdistan Regional Government, while other ethnic groups oppose the move.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said Wednesday he would reject the election law on the grounds that it may aggravate ethnic divisions.
The elections were scheduled for October, though some Iraqi lawmakers say a January date may be more realistic.
