BAGHDAD, Feb 28: Iraq's Interim Governing Council (IGC) failed to meet its Saturday deadline for completing a basic law but pressed on as the diverse body looked to move beyond the nation's ethnic and religious faultlines.

"We are not going to have an interim law today," an official said, following the return of council members to the table after several conservative members walked out of a turbulent session on Friday to protest the failure of their move to get the family law scrapped. But the official said he believed outstanding points in the law that will serve as a cornerstone of a new Iraqi democracy would be ironed out in the coming 24 hours.

"I think we are very optimistic, there are just a couple of issues that still need ironing out," the official said.

Despite missing the original deadline, set out in a November agreement that envisions ending the US-led occupation on June 30, the latest talks marked an about-face for conservative council members who boycotted Friday's session after being blindsided with a surprise vote on women's rights.

Although the breakdown in talks raised the spectre of the IGC's collapse, the Shia representative who led the boycott, Adel Abdel Mahdi, returned to the negotiations on Saturday.

The pivotal talks on Friday crumbled after 15 council members voted to repeal a religious-based family law proposal that aims to roll back women's legal privileges and was proposed by SCIRI in late December.

The conservative camp then walked out of the meeting and conducted its own parallel talks, refusing to join discussions on the temporary constitution led by US overseer Paul Bremer that continued until 1am.

Sources familiar with the talks said those choosing to join the later boycott of discussions with Paul Bremer numbered around 10, including Pentagon favourite Ahmed Chalabi, although he actually voted against the religious hardliners.

The vote killed a proposal to scrap Iraq's 1959 family affairs code - considered among the most progressive in the Middle East - and place it under religious jurisdiction, said Shia council member Raja al Khuzai. But on Saturday, all sides said they were eager to make the finish line, but many were still divided over women's rights as well federalism and Shariat.

"We still have a lot of main issues to be discussed," said Mahmud Othman, an independent council member and leader of the Kurdish National Struggle.

An official said the latest round of talks boded well after the previous day's acrimony.

"They are definitely working together over there and just like in any democracy getting to a central agreement can be a long and drawn-out process," said the official.

One of the key topics is how much political power should be given to women, who make up more than half of the population.

Iraqi women are demanding a 40 per cent representation on the transitional government that is due to take power from the interim council by June, but the female councillor said 30 percent was a more realistic target.-AFP