Obama welcomes Iraq vote

Obama welcomes Iraq vote

Ten times, Iraqi members of parliament had tried to get to this point and ten times they've failed. But on Sunday, the Iraqi parliament passed an electoral reform bill by a wide margin after weeks of deadlock.

The law won approval on Sunday from 141 of the almost 200 Iraq lawmakers present after a volatile day-long debate.

Among the reforms - individual Iraqi MPs will have their names on ballots instead of just anonymous party lists, and results from the ethically divided city of Kirkuk will initially be treated as provisional, until voting can be clarified.

The poll is seen as crucial to stability of Iraq and could impact U.S. plans for a military pullout. The move was quickly welcomed in Washington by President Obama.

"This agreement advances the political progress that can bring lasting peace and unity to Iraq and allow for the orderly and responsible transition of American combat troops out of Iraq by next September."

The Iraqi MPs overcame a key dispute about how to conduct the election in northern Iraq's ethnically-mixed and oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Kurds have long sought to incorporate Kirkuk into their autonomous region in northern Iraq. But, many of the city's Arab and Turkmen residents oppose such a move, and want it to remain under the control of Iraq's central government.

Qasim Al-Aboodi, spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq told al Jazeera:

"I think the political block at last got a deal about Kirkuk and they solved it by the law. So there is no problem about it  ... (as) some article deals with this problem.

Iraq's upcoming national elections are a crucial test for the country as it takes more responsibility for its own security ahead of a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces.

There have been a number of deadly attacks across Iraq in recent weeks. And the UN had warned it could not guarantee to endorse the poll if the bill had not been passed.

It's not clear if the delayed passage of the law gives Iraqi authorities enough time to hold the elections as scheduled in mid-January, but Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had warned that Iraq could spiral into a new cycle of chaos if the elections do not go ahead.