WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The White House on Wednesday urged Iraq to hold provincial elections by the end of the year after Iraqi President Jalal Talabani rejected a law setting up the vote.

'The Iraqis have said that they'd like to try to do it by the end of the year. We think that that's important. We think that local elections would help in Iraq to further reconcile all the groups,' said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

'They have tensions amongst the different parties much like we have here, or other democracies have, and they're trying to work through them,' she told reporters. 'They just have a lot to work through.'

She spoke after Talabani rejected a provincial election law a day after it was adopted in parliament, making it all but certain that polls due in October will be delayed.

US President George W. Bush has described the vote as a critical step towards national reconciliation in war-torn Iraq, and Perino expressed hopes that the parliament would pass legislation that Talabani would approve.

Kurds in particular have opposed the bill because of disputes over how to constitute the provincial council of Kirkuk, the northern oil province claimed by both the Arabs and Kurds.

After the veto, 'they can go back to work and see if they can get something that the president would actually be able to sign. There's tensions regarding the Kirkuk referendum, as well as some other aspects of it,' said Perino.