Parliament extends electoral commission’s life for another 35 days
06/08/2012 21:07
ERBIL, Aug. 6 (AKnews) – The Iraqi Parliament has extended the life of the electoral commission of the country for 35 days after talks over the election of the new board of the commission failed to reach any results.
This is the third time in less than three months that the Iraqi parliament extends the life of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
The IHEC’s life expired on April 27 and the parliament extended its works for three months. On July 28, the parliament decided to extend the work of the IHEC for another 10 days but the political blocs have failed to agree on the new members of the electoral board.
The parliamentarians are divided on the voting process. Some of the blocs, mainly the Kurds and the Sunni-backed forces believe that the 8 members of the board who have been approved by all political board be put to vote for approval separately and then deal with the rest of the 15-member board.
On the other hand, the State of Law Coalition (SLC) led by the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and an opposition Kurdish bloc who have 8 seats in the parliament, Gorran, want to put the new electoral board to vote when all 15 members of the electoral board have been agreed upon.
By Mohamed Aburrahman
RY/AKnews
