Baghdad - Provincial council elections in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh will be held on January 31 as scheduled, despite a vote by the provincial council to postpone them, an official from the Independent High Election Commission (IHEC) said on Friday.

"The IHEC is the only body which has the right to postpone the elections according to article 46 of the provincial council elections law," Abdul Khaleq al-Dabagh told the Voice of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Fourteen of Iraq's 18 provinces are set to go to the polls at the end of January in what is widely seen as a key test of Iraqi democracy ahead of the withdrawal of foreign troops later in 2009.

The Nineveh provincial council is currently controlled by members of the Kurdish Alliance, despite the province having a Sunni Arab majority, as Sunni Arabs boycotted provincial elections in 2005. Analysts believe that the Arab parties in the region intend to participate in the January poll.

On Thursday, 19 members of the Kurdish Alliance in the council voted to postpone the election, against seven votes from non-Kurdish parties, VOI reported. (dpa)