Iraqi Christians protested on Thursday against the absence of a clause determining their quota of provincial coucil seats in a new provincial elections law adopted the day before in the Iraqi parliament.

The Students Federation of Chaldean Christians in Iraq objected to the cancellation of a clause in the old law that reserved provincial councils seats for Christians and other religious minorities.

The deletion of the law now leaves Iraq Christians "disenfranchised," the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency quoted the group as saying.

Secretary of the Chaldean National Council, Daiaa Boutros, said that removing the clause was dangerous in an Iraq that was moving towards democracy, as the country had to preserve the rights of minorities.

The Kurds earlier protested against an earlier draft of the law last July which - according to them - favoured Arabs, Turkmen, and Christians in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk.