Iraqi Christians protest end to quotas in vote law

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Iraqi Christians protest end to quotas in vote law

AP foreign, Sunday September 28 2008

By SAMEER N. YACOUB

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - Hundreds of Iraqi Christians rallied
in northern Iraq on Sunday to protest a new elections
law they say denies them their rights because it doesn't
guarantee their minority any seats on provincial councils.

Amid growing criticism over the issue, Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki appealed to parliament and the electoral
commission to restore the quotas guaranteed for minority
goups by the old election law.

"The minorities should be fairly represented in the
provincial councils and their rights should be guaranteed,"
al-Maliki said in a letter received by parliament Sunday,
according to Wissam al-Zubeidi, an aide to deputy
parliament speaker Khalid al-Attiyah.

Hundreds of Christians staged street protests after Sunday
church services in and around Mosul, a northern city where
many of the country's Christians live. Some said the removal
of the quota was an attempt to marginalize Christians and
push them to leave Iraq.

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