.Court ruling sought on Iraqi speaker race
BAGHDAD (AP) - The struggle to select an Iraqi parliament speaker hit another snag Saturday after a Sunni party demanded a court ruling on the voting rules - threatening further delays on key legislation, including a law on investment in Iraq's oil fields.
Iraq's parliament has been in gridlock since the resignation of the Sunni speaker in December after complaints about his abrasive language and erratic behavior. Under Iraq's power-sharing rules, his replacement must be Sunni but lawmakers have been unable to agree on a candidate.
The impasse has frozen debate on important measures such as Iraq's budget and regulations on foreign oil investment and sharing revenue among the nation's various groups.
The latest twist came when the largest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, asked for the nation's Supreme Court to rule on how many votes are needed: a majority from the 275-seat parliament as the current rules say, or just most of the lawmakers casting votes.
On Thursday, the candidate backed by the Islamic Party, Ayad al-Sammaraie, failed by only two votes. The appeal to the high court immediately suspended efforts for another vote and could bring indefinite delay to the process.
Elsewhere in Iraq, political groups began posturing and dealmaking days after the announcement of official results from the Jan. 31 provincial elections.
A Kurdish politician whose list won nearly a third of the vote in a volatile northern province said his group will cooperate with Sunni Arab rivals if they respect Kurdish territorial rights.
Claims by Sunni Arabs and Kurds over disputed territory in the northern Ninevah province have fueled significant violence in the provincial capital of Mosul. U.S. officials have called the city Iraq's last major urban battleground in the war against al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgents.
The Kurds govern a semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. They have pushed Iraq's Arab-dominated central government to hold a constitutionally mandated referendum that would let people in disputed territories decide if they want to join the Kurdish-ruled area.
The constitution contained a 2007 deadline for the vote, but it has yet to take place - fueling growing tension between Baghdad and the Kurds.
Muhsin al-Saadoun, whose Ninevah Brotherhood list won 12 of 37 seats on the provincial council, said Sunni Arabs must "respect the Iraqi constitution and the feelings and will of the Kurds."
But a hard-line Sunni Arab - whose list won 19 seats in Ninevah - has said any talks would require agreements on disputes such as Arab prisoners in Kurdish jails and the status of Arabs in regions claimed by the Kurds.
"The Kurdish leaders should understand that the political map has changed and when they are ready to accept this new reality, then we will be ready to reach an understanding with them," said Atheel al-Nujaifi, head of the Sunni list known as al-Hadba.
An American soldier died Saturday while conducting a combat patrol near Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The death raises the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq to at least 4,246 since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
MyWay
Iraq's parliament has been in gridlock since the resignation of the Sunni speaker in December after complaints about his abrasive language and erratic behavior. Under Iraq's power-sharing rules, his replacement must be Sunni but lawmakers have been unable to agree on a candidate.
The impasse has frozen debate on important measures such as Iraq's budget and regulations on foreign oil investment and sharing revenue among the nation's various groups.
The latest twist came when the largest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, asked for the nation's Supreme Court to rule on how many votes are needed: a majority from the 275-seat parliament as the current rules say, or just most of the lawmakers casting votes.
On Thursday, the candidate backed by the Islamic Party, Ayad al-Sammaraie, failed by only two votes. The appeal to the high court immediately suspended efforts for another vote and could bring indefinite delay to the process.
Elsewhere in Iraq, political groups began posturing and dealmaking days after the announcement of official results from the Jan. 31 provincial elections.
A Kurdish politician whose list won nearly a third of the vote in a volatile northern province said his group will cooperate with Sunni Arab rivals if they respect Kurdish territorial rights.
Claims by Sunni Arabs and Kurds over disputed territory in the northern Ninevah province have fueled significant violence in the provincial capital of Mosul. U.S. officials have called the city Iraq's last major urban battleground in the war against al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgents.
The Kurds govern a semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. They have pushed Iraq's Arab-dominated central government to hold a constitutionally mandated referendum that would let people in disputed territories decide if they want to join the Kurdish-ruled area.
The constitution contained a 2007 deadline for the vote, but it has yet to take place - fueling growing tension between Baghdad and the Kurds.
Muhsin al-Saadoun, whose Ninevah Brotherhood list won 12 of 37 seats on the provincial council, said Sunni Arabs must "respect the Iraqi constitution and the feelings and will of the Kurds."
But a hard-line Sunni Arab - whose list won 19 seats in Ninevah - has said any talks would require agreements on disputes such as Arab prisoners in Kurdish jails and the status of Arabs in regions claimed by the Kurds.
"The Kurdish leaders should understand that the political map has changed and when they are ready to accept this new reality, then we will be ready to reach an understanding with them," said Atheel al-Nujaifi, head of the Sunni list known as al-Hadba.
An American soldier died Saturday while conducting a combat patrol near Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The death raises the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq to at least 4,246 since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
MyWay
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