Draft constitution distributed to Iraqi voters
Iraqis today began picking up copies of the draft constitution they will vote on next week, after the country’s Shiite-led parliament ended a bitter dispute with Sunni legislators about how the referendum will be conducted.
“We are going to read the draft constitution. If we like it, we will vote yes. If we don’t, we’ll say no,” said Lamia Dhyab, a woman wearing a chador, the traditional head-to-toe black outfit that Muslim females often wear. She was lined up with other Iraqis in her neighbourhood of Dora, a southern part of the capital that has been hard hit by insurgent attacks.
Like other Iraqis, Dhyab was picking up her copy of the draft constitution at the small shop where she presents her ration card each month to get government-subsidised food for her family. Outside, there was no sign of US or Iraqi forces to guard the distribution.
Under US and UN pressure, parliament yesterday reversed its last-minute electoral law changes, which would have ensured passage of the new constitution in the October 15 referendum, but which the United Nations called unfair.
Sunni Arab leaders who had threatened a boycott because of the changes said they were satisfied with yesterday’s reversal and were now mobilising to defeat the charter at the polls. But some warned they could still call a boycott to protest mjor US offensives launched over the past week in western Iraq, the Sunni heartland.
