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Governing Council begins debate on new constitution

Iraq's US-appointed leaders have begun deliberating a temporary constitution that would grant broad rights to ordinary Iraqis and serve as a guiding document until a permanent Iraqi system is adopted next year.

The 25 members of the Iraqi Governing Council, which took up a draft of the constitution on Saturday, have until Feb. 28 to approve a final version of the document, which is supposed to remain in force until a permanent constitution is ratified by Iraqi voters in October 2005. Nationwide elections for a new government would be held two months later.

The interim constitution is a central element in the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people from the US occupation forces, now scheduled to take place by June 30. Even though the proposed constitution would probably be in force for less than two years, it is seen as the starting point for debates on the permanent one.

The document now being discussed by the Iraqi Governing Council would confer on the Iraqi people broad political and civil rights that were unknown here during the era of former president Saddam Hussein and that are unknown in many parts of the Arab world today. The draft constitution would grant full and equal rights to women, guaranteeing them two in every five seats in the assembly.

Some members of the council have already objected to parts of the plan, particularly the number of seats allotted to women. Mowaffak Al Rubaie, a governing council member, said he did not think the council would endorse the quota.

"Twenty percent for women is much more realistic," Rubaie said.

The draft constitution would grant freedom of speech and assembly, the right to free movement across the country and the right to privacy. It would confer on every Iraqi a right to health care and schooling. It would also establish such US-style bedrocks as an independent judiciary and civilian control over the military.

The role of Islam is explicitly recognized in the proposed structure, but in a carefully delineated role. While Islam is described as the official state religion, it is regarded in the draft document as "a principal source among other sources of legislation," and not the only one. The draft also recognizes the freedom of non-Muslims to practice their faiths.
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