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Iraq gets draft constitution

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BAGHDAD, August 23(Online): Iraq’s majority Shia and Kurdish allies pushed a draft constitution into parliament on Monday, minutes before a midnight deadline, but minority Sunnis, warning of civil war, held up a final vote amid confusion.

With the Shia-led coalition talking of a "final" document being completed, the speaker of the National Assembly announced to applause the deadline had been met and a draft constitution presented. But without calling a vote he dismissed the chamber, saying there would be three more days of talks.

It remained unclear how far continuing Sunni Arab objections to regional autonomy within a federal state could be overcome and Shia leaders said they were ready to press on regardless. "If it passes, there will be an uprising in the streets," Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Mutlak said, adding that further blockage on a deal would in his view trigger elections to a new interim assembly.

But Shia and Kurdish delegates were giving little ground and US diplomats are pressing hard to keep to the timetable. "We have fully completed the constitution," Shia Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi told Reuters.

"But we may need to modify some points to satisfy the others." Speaker Hajim al-Hassani said four points, including the key issues of the very concept of a "federal" state and control of oil revenues, were still in dispute — much the same as when an original deadline was put back by a week last Monday.

Mutlak said he reckoned there were many more objections. But the Shia head of the constitutional drafting committee, Humam Hamoudi, said that if there were still no compromises in three days: "The constitution will keep moving." Kurdish lawmaker Ahmed Pinjwani conceded, however, that if the Sunnis could not be won over, "It will move with a limp." The draft also made Islam "a main source" of law in what seemed a compromise between Islamist Shias and secular Kurds. Parliament had faced dissolution if no draft were adopted by midnight.

End.