BAGHDAD, Nov 26: Leading Iraqi political parties, including the group led by former presidential candidate Adnan Pachachi and the two main Kurdish parties, signed a petition on Friday calling for the planned Jan 30 elections to be delayed.

After a meeting at Mr Pachachi's house in Baghdad, attended by at least three ministers, 15 parties and political groups signed a petition saying the polls should be postponed for up to six months.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the main Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, both signed the document. A representative of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord party attended the meeting but did not sign the petition that was distributed at the end.

Influential Sunni parties in Iraq have been pressing for a delay in the polls, saying that bloodshed in Sunni areas makes it impossible to hold them in January. Many have threatened to boycott the election if it goes ahead on time.

Iraq's interim constitution says elections must be held by the end of January to choose a parliament that will select a new cabinet and oversee the writing of a permanent constitution. -Reuters