BAGHDAD — Iraq's parliament, which had been due to elect the country's president on Wednesday, postponed the vote by a day, delaying the formation of a power-sharing government urgently needed to confront a Sunni Muslim uprising.



The advance by Sunni militants who seized swathes of northern Iraq last month has put Iraq's survival in jeopardy. Its politicians have been deadlocked over forming a new government since an election in April.



Washington has made clear that setting up a more inclusive government in Baghdad is a requirement for its military support against the insurgency.



Under Iraq's governing system, in place since the post-Saddam Hussein constitution was adopted in 2005, the prime minister is a member of the Shiite majority, the speaker a Sunni and the largely ceremonial president a Kurd.



Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Jubouri told the chamber that the Kurds had asked for a one-day delay on the vote so they could agree on a candidate.



The  insurgency is led by Islamic State, which shortened its name from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after last month's advance. It now controls a swathe of territory from Aleppo in Syria close to the Mediterranean to the outskirts of Baghdad.



Washington hopes a more inclusive government in Baghdad could save Iraq by persuading moderate Sunnis to turn against the insurgency, as many did during the "surge" offensive in 2006-2007 when US troops paid them to switch sides.



Meanwhile, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, at least 75 civilians have died in air raids since June 6 in four cities.



"The government's air strikes are wreaking an awful toll on ordinary residents," HRW's deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said in a statement.



The New York-based watchdog was particularly critical of the government's targeting of hospitals in militant-controlled areas and of the use of barrel bombs on the rebel city of Fallujah. Another government air strike Wednesday damaged a hospital complex in the main IS hub of Mosul, causing no casualties, a resident and a hospital worker said. — Agencies