Kurdistan Coalition Won't Vote for Oil Draft In Its Current
Form
Baghdad, Iraq, July 9,-VOI- An Iraqi legislator said the Kurdistan Coalition
will not vote in favor of the draft law on oil and gas in its current form,
without introducing certain amendments to it.
"The draft referred to the Iraqi parliament for debate and approval is not the
one agreed on with Kurdish leaders," Mahmoud Othman, an MP from the Kurdistan
Coalition, the second largest parliamentary bloc with 55 seats, said.
Othman said, "(some) essential changes were introduced into the draft law on oil
and gas without the Kurdistan Coalition knowing about them in advance." He,
however, did not reveal the nature of the changes in the draft.
The Iraqi government ratified the draft law on oil and gas on Tuesday before
referring it to parliament. The draft has not been debated so far due to failure
to obtain a quorum, which is half the parliamentary members plus one. The Iraqi
parliament has 275 members.
"We have notified the government of our reservations on the draft. A committee
was set up to consider the Kurdistan Coalition's reservations in coordination
with the Iraqi Kurdistan government," Othman said.
The draft law on oil and gas is one of the most controversial issues in the
Iraqi political arena at present with political blocs split over the draft,
which has to do with the country's main source of wealth.
