BAGHDAD -- Up against the clock, Iraqi politicians spent Wednesday hammering out the final sticking points of an election law they hope to present to parliament for a vote within days to avoid a risky and embarrassing delay of the January polls.

How to handle the oil-rich city of Kirkuk remains the key snag, several Iraqi officials said. The debate now hinges on whether election administrators will count voters based on the city's 2009 population, which would favor Kurds, or include residents from 2004, which would boost Arab representation in the divided city.

A senior aide to the speaker of parliament said there was serious talk of bringing the issue to a vote Thursday, despite the opposition of Kurdish politicians, who seek more time to ensure their interests are addressed.

Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region, added to the pressure Wednesday with a public demand to incorporate Kirkuk into his semiautonomous region. ``We will not accept any [other] solution for Kirkuk,'' he said at the swearing-in of a new Kurdish regional government. ``We want it to be annexed to our region because the majority of its population are Kurds.''

Timetables set forth by the Iraqi Constitution and the electoral commission make it imperative that an election deal be reached soon. The original deadline was Oct. 15, and there's concern that even a rushed agreement won't leave enough time for election officials to approve candidates, oversee the campaign and ensure voters have enough information before they head to the polls.

Smooth elections are also important for the Obama administration, which had hoped to withdraw most U.S. military forces by next summer and leave Iraq in the care of a newly elected government. A political standoff could leave the country vulnerable to more insurgent attacks, such as the devastating truck bombings that killed 155 people and wounded hundreds more last Sunday.

``We cannot wait forever for the election law to be passed, and we've said this to parliament,'' said Judge Qassim al Abboudi, a senior administrator on the elections commission. ``But we have seen that there is a real effort to finalize the law. Kirkuk remains the issue. With the grace of God, they should have a final draft within the next few days .''

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