Differences over the Iraqi constitution
Iraq, Politics, 8/6/2005

A source at the Iraqi presidential court said that the meeting of the leaders of the Iraqi political blocs which was due to be held yesterday to solve pending issues in the drafting of the constitution, and was postponed until Sunday.

The source explained that the decision was taken to ensure large participation of the blocs and parties and trends outside the National Assembly ( parliament) in the meeting.

For his part, the Kurdish member in the constitution drafting committee Mahmoud Othman said that one of the reasons for postponing the meeting is that the Kurdish parliament will hold a special meeting today ( Saturday) to discus the Kurdish demands in the constitution, adding that the chairman of the district Masoud al-Barazani will not be able to come to Baghdad before Sunday.

Members of the parliamentary committee in charge of drafting the constitution chaired by Sheikh Humam Hammoudi could not eliminate differences on several issues especially the issue of confederation, the fate of the city of Karkouk, and the role of religion, the name of the state, and the distribution of the Iraqi wealth.

The 71-member committee agreed that the political leaders will work to solve differences in the drafted constitution by August 12, so as to submit them to the formulation committee which is presumed then to prepare the final draft to submit it by its turn to the parliament by the deadline of August 15.

After the parliament decides on the draft constitution, it will be submitted to a people's referendum on October 15 for approval.

Previous Stories:
  New al-Qaida threats will not deter United States, Bush says   (8/5/2005)
  Iraqi constitution to have seperation of powers with parliament at the center   (8/4/2005)
  A constitution for Iraq   (7/2/2005)

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