BAGHDAD, Nov 23: More than 200 Iraqi political parties have thrown their hat into the electoral ring, and intense negotiations are under way to form unified lists for what is set to be the country's first free and multi-party ballots in decades.

Of the 228 political entities that applied, 190 were approved, electoral commission chief Abdel Hussein al-Hindawi told AFP. With the deadline for presenting full electoral lists only a week away, parties and organisations were in the final stages of discussions to form alliances ahead of the official launch of the campaign on December 15.

Speaking from the Baghdad headquarters of his secular Sunni National Democratic Party, Nasser Chaderchi told AFP that meetings were taking place on a daily basis among the country's political movements.

"Our party is in contact with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdistan Democratic Pary (KDP), Adnan Pachachi's Independent Democratic Gathering, the Communist Party and Arab Socialist Party," he said.

Chaderchi voiced his hope that the November 30 deadline for registering the electoral lists would be pushed back "to give more time to reach an agreement." The secular parties he listed would form a significant force on the political scene.

They were the same bloc that opposed a push by religious parties for Islam to be the only source of inspiration for the constitution. For its part, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq was deep in talks with other Shia parties. -AFP