The Sunni vice-president of Iraq today vetoed the country’s general election law.

Tareq al-Hashimi’s decision threatens both the mooted January election date and the US troop withdrawal due to begin weeks later.

Hashimi ordered the hard-won law back to parliament – which had taken three months to pass it – claiming it would disadvantage Iraq’s large diaspora community, predominantly made up of Sunni Muslims whose influence has plummeted since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

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