Baghdad - Iraq's presidential council endorsed a long- delayed provincial election law, according to a statement issued on Friday by the office of Tareq al-Hashemi, deputy to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

However, the council expressed reservations over the cancellation of Article 50, which meant that minorities would not be able to take part in the elections, according to the statement.

Earlier on Friday, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency said that the president did not endorse the law after expressing his concern for emitting the article addressing quotas for minorities in the provincial councils.

VOI quoted Burham Saleh, Talabani's deputy in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Saleh was speaking after an unofficial meeting between Talabani, his two deputies and the president of the Autonomous Kurdistan Region, Massoud al-Barazani.

Meanwhile, a member of the Iraqi United Alliance party in the Iraqi parliament, Abbas al-Bayati, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the Iraqi parliament would discuss minority participation in the elections and publish a supplement to the law.

"The supplement published will allow minorities to take part in the January 2009 elections," al-Bayati told dpa.

The Iraqi Parliament decided on September 24 to remove Article 50, which specifies a quota for minorities on provincial councils.

The Iraqi Presidential Council comprises Iraq's Kurdish president, Talabani, and his Sunni and Shiite vice-presidents.

The parliamentary decision has sparked a heated reaction from several political blocs representing the country's Christians and other minorities.

More than 10,000 Iraqi Christians demonstrated Thursday in the northern Dahuk province, demanding self-rule in their area and the restoration of the clause in the new elections law that would guarantee their representation on councils.

Earlier in the week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expressed his concerns about the removal of the disputed article.

In a statement released by his office, al-Maliki called on parliament and the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to address the concerns, feelings of injustice and the sense of exclusion felt by some segments of Iraqi society. (dpa)