Political crisis in Iraq deepens

The Iraqi parliament passed a revised election law, following last week’s veto by Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.  On the surface, this would seem like good news.  It is not.  Hashemi, a Sunni, vetoed the law because it did not give sufficient representation to Iraqis living abroad.  To address this concern, the new law allocates votes from Iraqis living abroad according to the province where they lived prior to leaving as well as increases the number of seats for Kurdish regions.  Both measures reduce the number of seats in Sunni regions.  The Sunnis walked out of the parliament in protest and the bill passed by a wide margin.  Hashemi has stated he will veto the law a second time.  However, parliament can override the veto with 60% majority, which a Kurdish-Shia coalition could easily provide.  Reider Visser at Iraq and Gulf Analysis argues sees this as a revival of sectarian tensions in Iraqi politics between the Kurds and Shia on the one hand and the Sunnis on the other.  Not good news.