[JURIST] Iraq's Presidency Council Wednesday rejected a draft provincial elections law that detailed the relationship between Iraq's central and local governments, sending the legislation back to the Iraqi Council of Representatives [official website, in Arabic]. The draft law was part of a package of legislation approved [JURIST report] by the Council of Representatives earlier this month that also included the 2008 budget and an amnesty bill [JURIST report] that will lead to the release of roughly 5,000 prisoners. The three-member Presidency Council, comprised of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi [BBC profiles], and Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi [personal website, in Arabic; EPIC profile, PDF], approved both the budget and the amnesty bill.

The proposed election law represented one of the 18 benchmarks [JURIST report] identified by the White House last year as important steps towards stability in Iraq. AP has more.