Kurds walk out of Iraq parliament

BAGHDAD, July 16 (UPI) -- Kurdish lawmakers walked out of Iraq's parliament in a dispute over the fate of the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.

The Kurds staged the walkout to protest Tuesday a proposed provincial election law, contending that part of it was unconstitutional, The New York Times reported.

The newspaper said the Kurdish walkout removed around one-fifth of the Iraqi Council of Representatives 275 members, thus delaying a the vote on the bill, which is seen as a key measure to bring ethnic groups that boycotted the country's 2005 elections into the government.

The Kurdish protest highlights ongoing disputes over whether oil-rich Tamim Province and its capital of Kirkuk will stay a part of Iraq or become part of a Kurdish autonomous region, the newspaper said.