Iraq: Final Final constitution handed to UN - no change re Baath or federalism
kuna: The Iraqi National Assembly (parliament) handed over on Wednesday to the UN representative here, Ashraf Kazi, a copy of the new constitution, Vice Speaker Dr. Hussein Al-Shehrestani announced.
The copy was amended to fulfill the demands of the Iraqi Arab Sunnis in terms of Iraq's identity, federalism, and the relation between regions and central government.
The UN will produce 5.5 million copies of the constitution to be distributed over Iraqi citizens.
Al-Shehrestani told a press conference here, co-held with deputy chairman of the constitutional committee, Dr Fouad Massoum, that five amendments were made to the constitution draft.
He said the constitution's article 3 states that "Iraq is part of the Islamic world, and is a founder and active member of the Arab League and is committed to its charter." He also said that article 108 and 110 were modified and article 44 was canceled and a new article, number 135, that states that the prime minister will have two deputies during the first electoral round, has been added.
The leading parliamentarian said that uprooting the Baath party members and the federalism were not negotiable.
Massoum, in his turn, said that the afore-referred-to amendments were not essential, and were part of previous discussions.
Asked about the Arab Sunni's demand that Iraq should be part of the Arab world, he advocated that many of the Arab nations' constitutions do not state state a given country was part of the Arab world.
On a related issue, Dr Farid Ayyar, spokesman for the Iraqi Elections Commission said certain legal barriers will deprive Iraqis living outside the country from voting in a referendum on the new constitution.
The referendum is set for October 15.
In remarks to KUNA here, Ayyar said according to clause "C" of article 61 of the interim constitution, sorting abroad votes to a certain side during the counting process will be impossible in case three Iraqi governorates or more rejected the constitution.
The official criticized the performance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which had claimed that 1.25 million Iraqis living in 14 countries could vote on the previous parliamentarian elections.
He said his country had spent USD 75 million for that purpose, while the turnout of Iraqi voters abroad was 265,000 only, which means that Iraq has spent USD 400 for each vote, while it costs in average of USD 20 in similar elections. Link
The copy was amended to fulfill the demands of the Iraqi Arab Sunnis in terms of Iraq's identity, federalism, and the relation between regions and central government.
The UN will produce 5.5 million copies of the constitution to be distributed over Iraqi citizens.
Al-Shehrestani told a press conference here, co-held with deputy chairman of the constitutional committee, Dr Fouad Massoum, that five amendments were made to the constitution draft.
He said the constitution's article 3 states that "Iraq is part of the Islamic world, and is a founder and active member of the Arab League and is committed to its charter." He also said that article 108 and 110 were modified and article 44 was canceled and a new article, number 135, that states that the prime minister will have two deputies during the first electoral round, has been added.
The leading parliamentarian said that uprooting the Baath party members and the federalism were not negotiable.
Massoum, in his turn, said that the afore-referred-to amendments were not essential, and were part of previous discussions.
Asked about the Arab Sunni's demand that Iraq should be part of the Arab world, he advocated that many of the Arab nations' constitutions do not state state a given country was part of the Arab world.
On a related issue, Dr Farid Ayyar, spokesman for the Iraqi Elections Commission said certain legal barriers will deprive Iraqis living outside the country from voting in a referendum on the new constitution.
The referendum is set for October 15.
In remarks to KUNA here, Ayyar said according to clause "C" of article 61 of the interim constitution, sorting abroad votes to a certain side during the counting process will be impossible in case three Iraqi governorates or more rejected the constitution.
The official criticized the performance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which had claimed that 1.25 million Iraqis living in 14 countries could vote on the previous parliamentarian elections.
He said his country had spent USD 75 million for that purpose, while the turnout of Iraqi voters abroad was 265,000 only, which means that Iraq has spent USD 400 for each vote, while it costs in average of USD 20 in similar elections. Link
posted by exoplanet at 6:52 PM
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