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Iraq charter rule change irks UN
The United Nations has expressed its concern to the Iraqi government that last-minute changes to the country's electoral laws do not meet international standards, according to a UN spokesman.
UN officials have been meeting with Iraqi authorities and are confident that Iraq will ultimately agree to sound electoral rules, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
Iraq's parliament approved on Sunday new rules specifying that it would require a simple majority of those turning out to vote to approve the draft constitution, while it would take two-thirds of those registered to vote in at least three provinces to vote no in order for it to be rejected.
"You cannot have two different meanings in one article. It's using interpretation to your own benefit," according to a UN official who requested anonymity.
According to Article 61C of the Transitional Administrative Law, a two-thirds vote in each of any three provinces is enough to reject the draft constitution in the 15 October referendum.
The original article reads: "The general referendum will be successful and the draft constitution ratified if a majority of the voters in Iraq approve and if two-thirds of the voters in three or more governorates do not reject it."
More difficult
On Sunday, parliament changed the rules to read "voter" in the first instance and "registered voter" in the second, making it more difficult for those opposed to the draft constitution to reject it.
A number of Sunni Arabs have already called for a "no" vote to the constitution because they believe that its federalist provisions will divide the country.
"Ultimately, this will be a sovereign decision by the Iraqis and it's up to the Iraqi National Assembly to decide on the appropriate electoral framework," UN spokesman Dujarric said.
"That being said, it is our duty in our role in Iraq to point out when the process does not meet international standards."
Dujarric said that as far as he knew, there had been no discussion between the UN and the Americans on the issue.
The dispute came as officials began distributing the constitution to the public, less than two weeks before the vote. Some five million copies printed by the UN arrived in Iraq on Monday, and officials began passing the first ones out, said Laura Makdissi, a UN official in Baghdad.
Sunni participation
A Sunni boycott of the 15 October referendum would deeply undermine the legitimacy of a constitution that the US had hoped would bring together the country's disparate factions and erode support among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority for the anti-government campaign.
Sunnis oppose the constitution, but US officials are still trying to ensure they participate in the vote.
In another development, the UN in New York on Monday sought to play down an internal confidential report which suggests the draft constitution is a recipe for the country's disintegration.
Newsweek reported in its latest issue that the confidential report, dated 15 September, warned that the draft was a "model for the territorial division of the state".
UN spokesman Dujarric stressed this was only an internal report, adding that "as far as the UN is concerned, the constitution itself will have to be judged by the Iraqis on 15 October during the referendum".
Iraq's parliament approved on Sunday new rules specifying that it would require a simple majority of those turning out to vote to approve the draft constitution, while it would take two-thirds of those registered to vote in at least three provinces to vote no in order for it to be rejected.
"You cannot have two different meanings in one article. It's using interpretation to your own benefit," according to a UN official who requested anonymity.
According to Article 61C of the Transitional Administrative Law, a two-thirds vote in each of any three provinces is enough to reject the draft constitution in the 15 October referendum.
The original article reads: "The general referendum will be successful and the draft constitution ratified if a majority of the voters in Iraq approve and if two-thirds of the voters in three or more governorates do not reject it."
More difficult
On Sunday, parliament changed the rules to read "voter" in the first instance and "registered voter" in the second, making it more difficult for those opposed to the draft constitution to reject it.
A number of Sunni Arabs have already called for a "no" vote to the constitution because they believe that its federalist provisions will divide the country.
"Ultimately, this will be a sovereign decision by the Iraqis and it's up to the Iraqi National Assembly to decide on the appropriate electoral framework," UN spokesman Dujarric said.
"That being said, it is our duty in our role in Iraq to point out when the process does not meet international standards."
Dujarric said that as far as he knew, there had been no discussion between the UN and the Americans on the issue.
The dispute came as officials began distributing the constitution to the public, less than two weeks before the vote. Some five million copies printed by the UN arrived in Iraq on Monday, and officials began passing the first ones out, said Laura Makdissi, a UN official in Baghdad.
Sunni participation
A Sunni boycott of the 15 October referendum would deeply undermine the legitimacy of a constitution that the US had hoped would bring together the country's disparate factions and erode support among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority for the anti-government campaign.
Sunnis oppose the constitution, but US officials are still trying to ensure they participate in the vote.
In another development, the UN in New York on Monday sought to play down an internal confidential report which suggests the draft constitution is a recipe for the country's disintegration.
Newsweek reported in its latest issue that the confidential report, dated 15 September, warned that the draft was a "model for the territorial division of the state".
UN spokesman Dujarric stressed this was only an internal report, adding that "as far as the UN is concerned, the constitution itself will have to be judged by the Iraqis on 15 October during the referendum".
For more information:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6A2...
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The two-thirds majority needed in three provinces to defeat the constitution will now be counted from all registered - as opposed to actual - voters.
On Sunday Shia and Kurdish members of parliament pushed through the changes in the referendum rules on 15 October.
Sunni Arabs reacted angrily to the amendments on Monday.
They believed many registered voters may not show up at the polls because of violence.
"We have expressed our position to the national assembly and to the leadership of the government," said Jose Aranaz, a legal adviser to the UN electoral team in Iraq, in an interview with Reuters news agency.
Mr Aranaz said parliament's decision was unacceptable and would not meet international standards.
"Hopefully by tomorrow the situation will be clarified," he said.
'Forgery'
Many Sunni Arabs oppose the draft constitution on the grounds that its federal provisions could lead to the break-up of Iraq.
They are the majority in three Iraqi provinces, but largely boycotted the general election in January this year.
The drafting of a constitution and a national vote on it, were meant to draw Sunni Iraqis into the political process, thereby reducing support for the mainly Sunni backed insurgency.
On Monday Saleh al-Mutlaq, of the Sunni group Iraqi National Dialogue, called the change the voting law a "clear forgery".
"They want this constitution to pass despite the will of the people," he added.
The interim constitution drawn up under US administrator Paul Bremer in 2003 says the following about the issue: "The general referendum will be successful and the draft constitution ratified if a majority of the voters in Iraq approve and if two-thirds of the voters in three or more governorates do not reject it."
But on Sunday, MPs said a No vote from two-thirds of "registered" voters was needed for a veto.
The new interpretation keeps the clause stipulating that only half of actual voters are needed for the text to be adopted.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4309164.stm
"We have expressed our position to the National Assembly and to the leadership of the government and told them that the decision that was taken was not acceptable and would not meet international standards," Jose Aranaz, a legal adviser to the UN electoral team in Iraq , told Reuters.
The Iraqi parliament approved on Sunday October2 , new rules specifying that it would require a simple majority of those turning out to vote to approve the draft constitution, while it would take two-thirds of those registered to vote in at least three provinces to vote no in order for it to be rejected.
The original article reads: "The general referendum will be successful and the draft constitution ratified if a majority of the voters in Iraq approve and if two-thirds of the voters in three or more governorates do not reject it."
The Iraqi parliament changed the rules to read "voter" in the first instance and "registered voter" in the second, making it more difficult for those opposed to the draft constitution to reject it.
"They cannot have a double interpretation in the same sentence," the UN advisor said.
"The interpretation, which we asked for two and a half months ago, came late and it came wrong," he stressed.
Sunni leaders hit out at the new amendments as a "brazen forgery" to block an anticipated Sunni "no" vote.
Numerous Sunni Arab political and religious leaders have already called for voting down the constitution basically because they believe that its federalist provisions will divide the country.
Sunni Arabs form a majority in Al-Anbar, Nineveh and Salahudin provinces and could have easily, under the original wording, defeated the new charter in the mid-October referendum.
Reservations
In Washington , State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Iraqi parliament should stick to the spirit and the letter of the original article.
He added that what the National Assembly did was "arrive at an interpretation of the law, and that interpretation is now subject to discussion between the electoral commission on one side and the National Assembly on the other."
McCormack said whatever the result of their discussions may be "they should aim to broaden the political consensus".
US Ambassador in Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad has been pressing political factions for last-minute amendments to the text to encourage at least some Sunnis Arabs to vote for it.
Amendments remain possible until the very last minute, or at least until such a time as the draft is printed in local newspapers, a Western official who declined to be named told AFP.
The final draft of the new constitution has been handed over to the UN for printing and distribution after being endorsed by the Shiites and Kurds, who hold a sweeping majority in the parliament.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-10/04/article08.shtml