BAGHDAD, Aug 13: Iraq’s president said on Saturday the first post-Saddam Hussein constitution was nearly ready, as focus moved to autonomy for the Shia majority, an issue that could trigger a revolt from the ousted Sunni Arab elite.
President Jalal Talabani said most issues were resolved and the new charter would be ready within the next 24 hours, a day before Monday deadline.
“God willing, the draft will be ready by Sunday as many of the contentious issues have already been resolved,” Talabani told reporters after a meeting with the former chief of Sunni waqf.
Talabani said that discussions were now focusing on the role of religion and the question of “federalism for the south”, a region predominated by the country’s majority Shia.
A constitution panelist told AFP that 14 of the 18 remaining stumbling blocks in the new charter had been resolved, including an agreement that at least 25 per cent of parliament seats should be reserved for women.
Hakim’s surprise call for a Shia autonomous region riled the country’s Sunni Arabs, the once-powerful community under Saddam and currently believed to be the backbone of the raging insurgency.
The move, also seen fuelled by a desire to control the oil reserves in the south, came after a series of meetings with Shia clerics, including spritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern holy city of Najaf.
Leaders hope to solve the sticking points of federalism and the role of Islam in legislation by Saturday evening, a day before the self-imposed Aug 15 deadline for completing the new charter expires.
The emerging consensus between Kurds and Shias on a federal constitution has however left the minority Sunni Arabs at odds on the key issue.
Opposition from the Sunnis could still scupper the new constitution as the interim rules stipulate the charter can be rejected by a two-thirds majority in any three provinces. Three — Al-Anbar, Tamim and Salaheddin — are predominately Sunni.
Angry Sunnis, including religious leaders, said Shia calls for autonomy could delay the constitution by another year.
“That Iraq is divided into cantons is what the Jews and our enemies want,” Sheikh Mehdi Al-Sulaimi, a member of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, said during Friday prayers at the group’s main mosque in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, leaders reached tentative agreement on the crucial issue of oil, along with 13 other issues.—AFP