Iraq's second general election since Saddam Hussein was overthrown will be held on March 7, almost six weeks later than the originally planned date of mid-January, officials said yesterday.

The announcement came two days after MPs struck a last-minute deal to get the poll back on track, but the news was overshadowed by five massive car bombs in Baghdad that killed 127 people and wounded 448.

Months of protracted negotiations over a law governing the vote had thrown arrangements for the election into chaos.

The date was agreed after meetings involving the presidency council, made up of President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies, and electoral commission officials.

"There was an agreement to hold the elections on March 6," Mr Talabani's chief of staff Nasser al-Ani told state television.

"But another meeting in the afternoon studied the case and decided to postpone it for one day only until March 7. Tomorrow the presidential decree will be issued to ratify the electoral law."

The election, which will now fall on a Sunday, the first day of the working week in Iraq, is seen as a crucial step towards consolidating Iraq's democracy and securing a complete US military exit by the end of 2011, as planned. It had originally been scheduled for January 16 but

was delayed because of disagreements over the electoral law.

Under the new electoral law - hailed by Washington as a "decisive moment for Iraq's democracy" - the number of MPs will increase from 275 to 325, including three additional ones for provinces in the northern autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Of the total, eight seats will be allocated to minorities, including Christians, and seven to smaller parties which win national support but not enough votes to gain representation at provincial level.