BAGHDAD, Aug 17 (AFP) - A key national conference on Tuesday delayed a scheduled vote for a new interim legislature for Iraq, the head of the preparatory committee, Fuad Maasum, told a news conference.
"We will vote tomorrow. It's getting too late because, if we stay here, they will not let us leave the building after midnight," he said, telling delegates to return on Wednesday at 10:00 am (0600 GMT).
Some 450 delegates to the conference accused the main political parties of hijacking the vote, saying most members were chosen long ago in secret.
Many had threatened to quit the conference unless the voting mechanism was changed with many pushing for a direct vote of candidates.
But Maasum insisted that each delegate would have the chance to vote for only one list of candidates that would conform to preset criteria "crucial to maintain balance and accord."
Of the 81 seats on the interim legislature to be decided by the vote, 21 are to go to party members, 21 to provincial leaders, 11 to minorities, 10 to tribal figures, 10 to civil society organisations and eight to independents.
He said three or four lists conforming to those same criteria could emerge Wednesday.
After Maasum's announcement, a group of independents said they would present a list of candidates, despite knowing in advance that they would not garner enough support due to the dominance of the big parties.
"We have no chance," said Ismail Zayer, editor of the leading Baghdad daily Al-Sabah al-Jadid.
Members of the now-defunct interim Governing Council, appointed under the US-led occupation, have an automatic right to sit on the legislature, bringing its membership up to a total of 100, 25 of whom are to be women.