The head of the Iraqi election commission has said national elections will be held during the last week of January.
Arabic language television stations quoted Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari as saying the ballot would be conducted on January 27th and that he expected the Cabinet to confirm that date.
Mr Hussein Hendawi, the head of the commission, insisted no decision had been taken on the date.
"We are the ones in charge of elections and we are the ones who will announce the date," he said. "I don't know why Ibrahim al-Jaafari came up with something like that. We haven't decided yet when the elections will take place."