Iraq: "We are going to torpedo the draft constitution"

azzaman: Opposition grows to constitution as government sets October 15 for referendum

Iraqi Sunnis and several Shiite groups are working closely together to foil government's efforts to have the draft constitution ratified. The groups say they will mobilize followers, first within the mainly Sunni-inhabited provinces and second across the country during the constitution referendum set for October 15. "We are going to torpedo the draft constitution," said Saleh al-Mutlak, the spokesman for the National Dialogue Council, an umbrella group of forces opposing the constitution. He said the council has drawn up two plans so that the constitution will not garner enough votes to turn it into law. "The first plan is to get two thirds of voters opposing it in three provinces," he said.

Representatives of Iraqi Sunnis have rejected the draft and are believed to muster two-third majority in at least four provinces in the country. The Shiite and Kurdish-dominated parliament has adopted the constitution despite Sunni objections. Unlike the January elections, which the Sunnis largely boycotted, voter registration in Mosul, Anbar, Tikrit and Diyala - the provinces said to have a Sunni majority - is reported to be very high. Read more