Across Asia: Iraq

Poll preparations stopped

Iraq's election commission has halted preparations for elections in January after Iraq's vice president vetoed part of an election law that had paved the way for the poll, an electoral official said yesterday.

Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president Tareq al-Hashemi yesterday said he had vetoed part of an election law because it did not allocate seats to Iraqis displaced abroad, an omission which had thrown fresh doubt on plans to hold general elections in January.