Iraq’s much-awaited draft Constitution is ready and will be presented to Parliament later on Monday, top Shi’ite negotiator Jawad al-Maliki said.
”Yes, the draft is ready,” Maliki said.
”An agreement between the Shi’ites and the Kurds [the two main parliamentary blocs] has been reached … God willing, the draft will be presented in the Parliament today.”
Negotiations on Iraq’s first post-Saddam Hussein Constitution have been dogged for more than two weeks by thorny issues revolving around federalism, sharing of oil revenues and the role of Islam in lawmaking.
An agreement between the two groups on these issues means that war-torn Iraq could have the Constitution, as the two hold about 215 seats in the 275-member Parliament.
If the Kurdish and Shi’ite blocs have reached a deal, their representatives would be able to use their majority in Parliament to force through a draft Constitution over the heads of Sunni Arabs.
Maliki, however, said the two groups have managed to win support from some of the disenchanted Sunni Arabs in favour of the draft.
”Some Sunni brothers are with us, but some are still against federalism. We are trying to convince them too,” he said.
Sunnis fear that a federal Iraq would rob them of the nation’s vast oil reserves, which are concentrated either in the Kurdish north or the Shi’ite south.
But their negotiating position is weak as they hold few parliamentary seats after largely boycotting January’s elections.
Earlier on Monday, Iraq government spokesperson Leith Kubba told CNN the two groups — Shi’ites and Kurds — had agreed on a draft Constitution, but added that Sunni Arabs had not yet come on board.
Iraq missed the initial deadline last Monday but staved off the need for fresh elections by holding a last-minute parliamentary vote to extend the charter deadline until midnight on August 22.
Kubba said Iraq had three options: prepare a draft and present it to Parliament by midnight on Monday, extend the deadline again, or dissolve the country’s legislative body.
He said he was confident that a draft would be ready on time, and that dissolving the Parliament was a remote possibility. — AFP
