Iraqis demonstrate to slam election law veto

Thousands of Iraqis have poured into the streets in the southern province of Basra as well as the holy city of Najaf in protest of a decision to veto the election law.

The demonstrators have called on Sunni Arab vice president Tariq al-Hashemi to reverse the veto against a key election legislation voted by a majority of the Iraqi parliament.

The protestors also denounced the return of former Baathists in the upcoming elections under the guise of new political figures.

Iraqi lawmakers will vote Saturday on how to break a deadlock over a key election law after Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi vetoed part of the hard-fought agreement on election law on Wednesday.

The Iraqi vice president has said all other provisions in the law are satisfactory and stressed that only the article related to the number of seats for voters abroad will be open for discussion.

“My objection is not to the entire law, but only the first article, in order to be fair to Iraqis living abroad,” al-Hashemi told reporters. “I hope that the parliament will hold a vote soon on the suggested amendments so that elections can be carried out at their scheduled date.”

It was not immediately clear when the Iraqi parliament would take up the vice president’s suggestion or what impact it would have on the date of the elections. No final date has been set yet for the vote, but the Iraqi constitution mandates that it be held before the end of January.