Sticking points of the Iraqi constitution

Members of the Iraqi parliament entered a race with time to end their differences over the Iraqi draft constitution before the end of a grace period that ends Thursday.

The chairman of the Iraqi parliament, Hajem al-Hosni, said in statements that there is persistence to reach an agreement over all pending issues, stressing that all sides will work during the grace period to achieve this.

However, news indicate to deep differences between the main forces, the Sunnis, the Kurds and the Shiites over issues of federalism and the structure of the provinces, and the controversy over a text calling for the extermination of the Baath party, and the issue of distribution of authorities between the presidency, the parliament, and the prime minister.

While the Sunnis are opposed to the principle of the federalism, stressing that this will lead to the partition of Iraq, the Kurdish negotiators persist on the principle of the Kurdish self rule, secularism of the constitution, and sharing of the oil wealth.

For their part, the negotiators among the Shiites are persistent that the Islamic religion be a base for the legislation, and the men of religion to have a role in politics.

However, the interim Iraqi government chaired by Ibrahim al-Jaafari considers that the draft constitution which was submitted, with the exception of the three pending issues, is the best that can be reached. Al-Jaafari stressed in a press conference in Baghdad that all Iraqis are looking to complete the new constitution.

Chairman of the constitution drafting committee Sheikh Humam Hammoudi strongly defended the draft, stressing that it stated the principle of federalism "to prevent the emergence of a new dictator in Iraq in the future," as he alleged. He said in a press conference that there is a desire that the government will be converted to what he called a "guardian government and not effective, to monitor the extent for implementing the constitution." He stressed that the points debated by the Arab Sunnis want to limit the size of a district to three governorates and not more, and that the decision to convert the governorates into districts to be made by a decision by the next elected parliament.