"We (the parliament's legal committee) have reached an agreement with the speaker of the parliament to vote tomorrow on a single draft if an accord is reached today, or on two proposals if there is disagreement," Sunni MP Salim al-Juburi said.

The proposed changes to the law would require parties to publish full lists of candidates on ballot papers, in contrast to the current closed list system under which voters see only party names.

The impasse over the law had sparked concern that the polls, slated for January 16, would have to be postponed because electoral authorities would not have enough time to organise them.

The first proposal, presented on Tuesday by the UN's special envoy to Iraq, Ad Melkert, calls for elections to be held in Kirkuk, oil-rich ethnically mixed province in Iraq's north, at the same time as the rest of the country.

It also envisages current voter records being used in the Kirkuk vote, which would favour the province's majority Kurds, but that these would then be updated after the election.

Diplomats have expressed concern that elections in Kirkuk would have to be delayed because of disputes over voter records there.

The UN's scheme differs from one by a senior political committee made up of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and parliament speaker Iyad al-Samarrai.

It offers three options relating to Kirkuk: postponing elections there; using voter records from 2004; or separating the province into two electoral constituencies.

The Kurds have long demanded Kirkuk be incorporated in their autonomous region in the north, despite the opposition of its Arab and Turkmen communities.

Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani attacked several proposals, warning of opposition to any options giving Kirkuk special status, or involving a review of voter records in only that province.

"If they want to review voter records in Kirkuk, they must also review them in all the other provinces -- we will not accept only Kirkuk," he told the Kurdish parliament Wednesday.

"We will not accept giving Kirkuk any special status. The election must be held in Kirkuk along with all the other provinces. If not, let whatever happens happen."

Iraqi MPs are under pressure to reach agreement on the new law from a wide variety of sources, including US President Barack Obama, the United Nations and Iraqi religious leaders, as well as the prime minister.

The deadlock threatened the poll as the electoral law is supposed to be in place 90 days before voting takes place. Constitutionally, the election must be held by January 31.

While supporters of the closed system argue their system pushes parties' programmes of action to the fore, critics say sitting MPs who support the closed list are in fact concerned they could lose their seats.

A closed list was used in national elections in January 2005, the first to take place after now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein's overthrow following the US-led invasion of 2003, but provincial polls in January adopted an open system.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose stature dwarfs that of any Iraqi politician, waded into the issue earlier this month, warning MPs turnout would suffer unless the vote is open.

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