BAGHDAD, Sept 18: Iraq’s parliament finally signed off on amendments to a much-awaited draft constitution on Sunday, paving the way for the charter to be put to a national referendum on Oct 15. On the eve of the parliament meeting, rebels ambushed and killed a Kurdish MP and wounded another north of Baghdad while another 11 Iraqis lost their lives in attacks on Sunday.
“We are handing the draft over to the UN,” deputy parliamentary speaker Hussein Sharistani said after reading out five articles in the constitution that have been amended following talks between the ruling Shia and Kurds and the minority Sunni Arabs.
The amendments to the text, adopted by parliament in late August, were agreed to following informal talks in an attempt to bring on board the disenchanted Sunni Arab minority which had objected to several key provisions.
Article 3 of the new draft has been amended to state that Iraq “is a founding and effective member of the Arab League” in an attempt to soothe the feelings of Sunni Arabs who originally had called for the country’s identity to be described as ‘Arab’. The minority Kurdish population objected to this.
A new article was added to create two deputy premier posts, while another amendment stipulated that the federal government would ensure an equitable distribution of water resources between the regions.
The draft will now be sent to the UN representatives tasked with printing five million copies — in Arabic and Kurdish — for distribution to the public before the referendum.
“If everything goes well we will start printing the constitution on Monday. It will take approximately 10 days to print it if nothing goes wrong,” a UN official said.
Meanwhile, a Kurdish MP was shot dead in a road ambush on Saturday, the third lawmaker to be assassinated since the Jan 30 general elections.
Fares Naser Hussein was killed and his colleague Hayder Kasim Shenshu wounded in the attack in which their driver and a bodyguard also died, an interior ministry official said.
The ambush took place near Mushahadah, some 30km north of the capital, as the two members of the Kurdish list in parliament were heading towards Baghdad.
Seventy-five of parliament’s 275 members were elected on the Kurdish list which includes Sunni Arabs, Turkmens and other minorities living in Kurdish regions and supports the government.
Sharistani condemned the attack and asked MPs to observe a one-minute silence in honour of their dead colleague.
Another 11 Iraqis, including eight members of the security forces, were killed in attacks on Sunday, officials said.
On Saturday, a series of anti-Shia attacks continued with a car bomb ripping through a crowded market in a predominantly Shia suburb of Baghdad, killing 30 and wounding 38 others.—AFP
