Iraq’s Kurdish government has denounced a draft law paving the way for U.S.-backed provincial elections and urged the presidential council to reject it.

Parliament has approved the law but Kurds boycotted Tuesday’s vote in protest of a secret ballot on a section dealing with the disputed oil-rich region of Kirkuk.

The Kurdish Regional Government says Wednesday the secret ballot was “a constitutional breach,” and has called on President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and his two deputies to reject it. Critics warn the move would return the law to parliament and likely delay the elections until next year. They were to be held by October.