Speaker: Debate won't delay Iraq election

BAGHDAD, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Iraq's elections in January won't be affected by lawmakers' inability to write new laws covering it, the speaker of the country's Parliament says.

Speaker Ayad al-Samarrai told reporters Wednesday members still had not reached agreement on new election laws designed for the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, but asserted the disagreements won't force a postponement of the Jan. 16 polls, CNN reported.

Samarrai said the Kirkuk issue had been sent to a national security council comprised of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and the leaders of the major political parties.

U.S. and U.N. officials have voiced uneasiness over Parliament's inability to hammer out a compromise with only three months left before the election, which is seen as a key moment in the country's post-Saddam Hussein development. The ethnically diverse Kirkuk is a sticking point as Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Christian residents disagree over which voting style would best represent their differing interests, analysts say.

"Time is critical and further delays in ratifying the amendment clarifications and the legal framework can adversely affect both the current electoral timeline, and ultimately the credibility of the electoral process," Ad Melkert, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for Iraq, told CNN.