The parliament of Iraq has passed an amended electoral law for the elections scheduled in January, AFP reports:
MPs on Monday opted to increase each province’s seat allocation by 2.8 percent over the number allotted in the last general election in 2005. As a result, Kurdish provinces will see increases in their number of seats compared with the number allotted in the bill which Hashemi vetoed, but Sunni provinces will have fewer seats. Shiite provinces will also broadly have fewer seats but retain a substantial majority in parliament.
The bill will certainly face a veto again.
If a second veto is used, lawmakers can overturn it by passing any election law with a 60 percent majority. An alliance of Shiite and Kurdish MPs would surpass that threshold with around 30 votes to spare in the 275-seat assembly.
The council–any one of whose members may exercise a veto–has 15 days to approve or reject the bill. Parliament is in recess till 8 December, due to the Eid festival.
The previous planting on the Iraq election law and veto was on 19 November.
So he vetoed a bill that would boost Sunni representation, and the new bill is just a return to status quo ante, but with more seats for everyone?
Sounds like a bad miscalculation, unless some extra-parliamentary action is threatened.
Seed planted by Michel S. — 23 November 2009 @ 23:56