Sunnis furious over referendum rule change
But pressure from US, UN may force Iraq assembly to readopt old rules.
In a move made quietly and without the fanfare that has normally marked announcements about Iraq's upcoming referendum, Iraq's Shiite- and Kurdish-dominated parliament adopted new rules over the weekend that will make it "virtually impossible" for the Oct. 15 vote on the new Constitution to fail.
The New York Times reports that many Sunni leaders and independent political figures are now complaining that "
the vote has been fixed."
Under the new rules, the constitution will fail only if two-thirds of all registered voters – rather than two-thirds of all those actually casting ballots – reject it in at least 3 of Iraq's 18 provinces.
The change, adopted during an unannounced vote in Parliament on Sunday afternoon, effectively raises the bar for those who oppose the constitution. Given that fewer than 60 percent of registered Iraqis voted in the January elections, the chances that two-thirds would both show up at the polls and vote against the document in three provinces would appear to be close to nil.
Sunni leaders say the way the change was made, and the surreptitious nature of the parliamentary session, undermine the attempt to promote democracy in Iraq.
"This is a mockery of democracy, a mockery of law," said Adnan al-Janabi, a secular Sunni representative and a member of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party. "Many Sunnis have been telling me they didn't believe in this democratic process, and now I believe they are vindicated."
USAToday.com reported Monday that Sunni leaders
threatened to boycott the political process completely, as the Iraqi Constitution seems "to be only for the Shiites and the Kurds."
Reuters reports that Joost Hiltermann, an Iraq expert with the International Crisis Group, says the episode on Sunday is a clear example of what happens when
the majority in a country decides that it just wants to do things its way.
"Obviously they want to win," he said of the Shiites and Kurds, who tailored parts of the constitution to themselves. "But to play by this kind of majoritarian rule is very dangerous, it's playing with fire," he told Reuters from Amman. "They are excluding one community to make it look as if they have agreement."
The
Los Angeles Times reports that neither the US nor the United Nations was very happy with the rule change, and spent most of Monday exerting pressure on Shiites and Kurds to change the new legislation. The
Times says that a move to rescind Sunday's vote may come soon. While the US very much
wants the Constitution to be approved in two weeks, US officials are also worried about "growing sectarian violence as it seeks to wind down its military presence."
Lawmakers of all three political factions were called into urgent meetings throughout the day Monday with US and UN officials, who offered no comment as they struggled to broker a solution. Iraqis said the talks were making headway. "The law doesn't pass anyone's test, not the UN's, not the US'," said a person familiar with the talks. "I'm sure it will be fixed."
Faridoon Abdal Qadir, a Kurdish lawmaker, said late Monday that the Kurdish bloc had promised a UN official that it would "suggest" that the assembly erase the double standard. Dindar Najman Shafiz, a Kurd who voted for the law, agreed that it was "faulty from a legal point of view," but had been supported by "the general will" of the majority coalition.
The
Associated Press reported Monday that the United Nations had already begun
distributing millions of copies of Iraq's draft constitution over the weekend. The draft copies did not include the rule change passed by the legislature Sunday. Meanwhile, the UN was trying to deal with a leaked memo that
expressed concern about the weakness of the Constitution and said it was a "model for territorial division of the state."
"As far as the UN is concerned, the constitution itself will have to be judged by the Iraqis on the 15th of October during the referendum," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "It should come as no surprise that within the UN staff who deal with Iraq there would be papers analyzing latest developments in that country, but it's an internal analysis."
The Washington Post reports that US officials have also
begun a late push to win changes that would help secure more Sunni support. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has agreed to take six Sunni demands to Shiite and Kurdish leaders. The demands include changes that would help keep some political power and control over natural resources under Iraq's central government, rather than having it all devolve to regional centers.
"The six demands are our last suggestions," [Nasser Janabi, a lead Sunni negotiator] said. "We cannot give up any more rights. If they agree on these demands, the marginalized group will take another, positive position on the constitution." US Gen. George Casey warned last week (before the referendum rule change on Sunday) that if Sunni demands were totally frozen out of the constitutional process, the insurgency "would only grow stronger." Shiite leaders said they would not accept changes on the nature of "federalism" but would look at four other points.
Also...
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EU bans arms sales to Uzbekistan (
BBC)
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Weak responses led To 9/11, Cheney asserts (
Washington Post)
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Turks greet EU talks with relief, skepticism (
Reuters)
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