Articles from the Iraqi draft constitution
Iraq, Politics, 8/24/2005

The following are some articles from the Iraqi draft constitution which was handed over to the Iraqi National Assembly (parliament) on Monday:

Name of country: Republic of Iraq
Ruling regime: "The republic of Iraq is an independent sovereign state with a parliamentary republican, democratic, federal system."

Official religion and religious rights: "First: Islam is the state's official religion. It is the source of legislation. No law should be enacted contrary to the " a: principles of its laws, b: democratic principles and c: basic rights and freedoms stated in this constitution." Secondly "this constitution maintains the Islamic identity for the majority of the Iraqi people and guarantees full religious rights for all individuals to the freedom of religious practices."

Nationalities: Iraq is a multi ethnic nationalities, religions and sects. It is part of the Islamic world and the Arab people in it are past of the Arab nation."

Official language:" Arabic and Kurdish languages are the two official languages for Iraq. The constitution guarantees the right of the Iraqis that their children to learn the mother language like Turkman or Syriac in the government educational establishments according to educational criterion or in any other language in private educational establishments."

The legislative authority: "the legislative authority is composed of the parliament and the federation council.. "

The parliament is composed of several members at an average of one seat for 100,000 citizens representing the whole people of Iraq. They are elected by direct secret voting. All people's strata are to be represented in this parliament.

Among the specialization of the parliament is "to enact federalism laws," "monitoring on the performance of the executive authority," "agreeing to international treaties and agreements signed by Iraq or it decided to join. (proposal: voting is in two thirds of the parliament especially regarding security and military agreements."

The federation council " includes representatives for districts and governorates and is specialized to consider draft laws pertinent to districts and governorates." "Any law or decision pertains to a region or a governorate should be approved by this district or governorate ( There is an objection to this article.)

The executive authority: " the federal executive authority is composed of the President of the Republic, the cabinet. It assumes its authority according to the constitution and the law."

The President of the Republic: The President of the republic is the head of state and symbol of the homeland. He symbolizes the country's sovereignty and is careful to guarantee commitment to the constitution and preserving the independence, unity, and territorial integrity and safety of Iraq. The President of the Republic should by an Iraqi by birth and from two Iraqi parents, completed his 40 year old and of good reputation and testified political experience, known for his justice, straight conduct, faithful to the homeland and not convicted in any honor violating crime.

The parliament elects among the candidates a president for the republic at a two third majority of its members.

The term of office for the President of the Republic is four years. The parliament elects a new President for the Republic before the end of the term of office for the former President by a three months.

Previous Stories:
  Iraqis constitution shows democratic process   (8/23/2005)
  Arab Sunnis demand pressure for a united Iraq   (8/22/2005)
  A constitution for Iraq   (7/2/2005)

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