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Iraqi parliament delays review of new constitution

The Iraqi parliament delayed a session yesterday on whether to approve a new constitution hours before a deadline as faction leaders failed in last-minute talks to agree on a federated state and other divisive issues.

The two-hour delay came after some Iraqi politicians suggested that parliament should extend the deadline for approving the charter while others said it could be approved over Sunni objections as last-minute talks failed to produce agreement on a federated state and other divisive issues.

The 275-member National Assembly had been scheduled to convene at 6pm to consider the draft but moments ahead of the time, the meeting room in the heavily guarded Green Zone was absent of legislators.

Shiite member Mohammed Baqir al-Bahadli said members had been advised that the new starting time was 8pm.

Kurdish parliament member Mahmoud Othman said meetings were still under way on the outstanding issues and so far "no final agreements have been reached."

Tariq al-Hashimi, the general secretary of Iraq's biggest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic party, told Al-Jazeera television that the minority's demands were not the only obstacles blocking progress. Instead, he said Shiites and Kurds also had "points of disagreement" and it might be better to delay a decision. He didn't elaborate.

But a Kurdish member of the drafting committee, Munthir al-Fadl, said that if the Kurds didn't get what they wanted on issues of "self-determination" and the authority of provincial governors, "this constitution will not succeed and will not even reach the gates of the National Assembly."

Al-Hashimi said his party did not believe in the "sanctity" of the interim constitution which mandated yesterday as the deadline for the constitution to be approved by parliament.

An extension of the deadline would require approval of two-thirds of parliament and the president and his two deputies. US officials have pressured Iraqis to stick to the deadline.

The Iraqis have been under strong pressure from the US to complete the charter on time and keep on track a political process the Americans hope will lure Sunnis away from the insurgency so US and other foreign troops can begin to go home next year.

Iraqi leaders had insisted the draft constitution would be presented to parliament yesterday.

"It will be today. It will be a historic day in the history of Iraq," Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie told CNN just over an hour before the delay was announced.

Government spokesman Laith Kubba had also said that there would be no delay.

"Every group knows that they will lose if they don't reach an agreement," Kubba told state-run Iraqiya television. "Therefore, I can say that the agreement is in place but the final touches are being put [on it]. It will be handed over on time. It is not necessary that all its deals will be announced today."

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