With President Barack Obama already grappling with whether to send more soldiers to Afghanistan, the US ambassador to Iraq warned against "slippage" in organising a January vote, which has been threatened with delays by a stalled electoral law.

His comments came after Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who vetoed a previous draft of the bill approved by parliament earlier this month, hinted that he would also oppose an amended version agreed on Monday.

Ambassador Christopher Hill said: "Some slippage would be okay, but we don't want a lot of slippage, so I hope they'll look very carefully at this and I hope we can get moving.

"I think what is most important is we get these elections going and get on with this process," he told reporters, without elaborating on what would constitute too long a delay.

The election, the second national ballot since the US-led invasion of 2003, is scheduled for the second half of January but cannot proceed until the electoral law receives presidential assent.

The chairman of parliament's legal committee, Baha al-Araji, said on Monday that the polls are likely to be delayed, because Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, is expected to veto the amended bill.

The new draft increases the number of parliamentary seats for Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region compared with the earlier version of the bill, but reduces the figure for Sunni Arab areas.

Hashemi said on Tuesday that he "considered the parliamentary amendments unconstitutional and unjust."

The latest draft was "very dangerous and has negative consequences for the entire political process," he said in a statement.

If a second veto is used, parliament can overturn it with a 60 percent majority. An alliance of Shiite and Kurdish MPs would surpass that threshold with around 30 votes to spare in the 275-seat assembly.

Iraq's three-member presidential council, composed of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and vice presidents Hashemi and Adel Abdel Mehdi, a Shiite, has 15 days to veto the new text.

Only one of the trio needs to veto the bill for it to be sent back to parliament.

According to a statement from his office, Talabani "hailed the decision (Monday's deal), and thought it represented the aspirations of the Iraqi people ... and enhanced the democratic process in the country."

Despite Hashemi's remarks, a UN spokeswoman said the world body remained positive that the law would pass without a veto being exercised, after UN diplomats met senior MPs and election organisers.

"The meeting regarded with optimism that the presidency council will hopefully accept the proposals discussed and soon issue a presidential decree stating the date of the parliament elections, and that there will be no reason for a second veto," she told AFP.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Washington on Monday that the US will present "a number of ideas" in a bid to resolve the stalemate, but she did not give any details.

The United States has 115,000 troops in Iraq, but that figure will drop markedly next year as all of its combat soldiers are pulled out before a complete withdrawal by the end of 2011.

However, General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, said earlier this month that while combat troops must pull out by mid-2010, the plan was flexible and could change if the security situation deteriorates.

Hill called on Iraq's leaders to reach a consensus and pass the bill, saying: "I would just ask people to study this very carefully and to understand that any law does involve some trade-offs."

Iraq's electoral commission has warned that continued delays over passing the bill threaten to leave too little time to complete preparations by the scheduled polling date.

Parliament will be in recess until December 8 because of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, probably leaving insufficient time to organise the polls for January even if MPs do approve a third version that same day.

Under Iraq's constitution, the general election must be held by January 31.

related report
Lady councillors in Iraq province to get male chaperones
Female councillors in an Iraqi province must from now on be accompanied to local government offices by male chaperones to protect their moral fibre, politicians in the region said on Tuesday.

"All 28 members of the Wasit provincial council voted in favour of this decision," said Alaa Ismail Hajem, a member of the Constitutional Party which is led by Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani.

"I voted for it to respect social traditions, and my sisters, who are members of Islamic parties, approved it for religious reasons," she told AFP.

The proposal was approved last Thursday and came into force in the southern province on Tuesday.

"Now, elected representatives will be able to continue their work because their 'marham' (chaperone in Arabic) will accompany them from their home to work," Hajem said.

According to strict interpretations of Islamic tradition, a woman should not travel without being accompanied by a marham, who should be either her husband or a man she cannot marry, such as her father, son or uncle.

"We decided to pay 200,000 dinars (171 dollars) a month to each chaperone, as requested by representatives of the Islamic parties," said Sunduz al-Dahabi, who belongs to the Iraqi National List of former prime minister Iyad Allawi.

On the Wasit provincial council elected in January there are seven women who are members of Shiite religious parties, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa group. There are also two female councillors who are secular.

In an editorial on Tuesday, the independent Mada newspaper criticised the Wassit council decision.

"If these councillors are unable to work on their own, why were they put up for election?" it asked.

"How were these chaperones recruited? If accompanying these ladies is a religious duty, why do they not do the job for free?"

It added, tongue-in-cheek: "Could we use this approach in ministries, parliament and other administrations? To better apply equality, could we recruit chaperones for male officials? Such an approach would put an end to unemployment."

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