The head of Iraq's constitutional drafting committee said on yesterday that he did not think the three additional days lawmakers said are needed for the three main factions to agree on the draft charter would be sufficient to achieve a breakthrough.
The draft was submitted to parliament just minutes before the expiry of the midnight deadline on Monday by the bloc composed of Kurds and Shiite Arabs.
But lawmakers quickly deferred a vote on it because of the fierce Sunni Arab resistance, and parliamentary speaker Hajim al-Hassani said it would take another three days to iron out "pending differences."
No date was set for another parliament session and a vote on the proposal, after which it will be put to the voters to ratify in a referendum by Oct. 15.
The 15 Sunni members of the drafting committee issued a statement early on Tuesday saying they had rejected the proposal because the government and the committee did not abide by an agreement for consensus. They said agreement on the document was still far off.
Despite the failure to finalize the proposal for a second time in two weeks, government spokesman Laith Kubba put a positive spin on proceedings, saying they demonstrated the democratic nature of the drafting process.
"After a long discussion, this is the best we could get. The Iraqi people can accept or reject this new constitution. This is a new experiment." Laith Kubba told journalists yesterday.
"The process should be completed," he said.
But Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of four top Sunni negotiators, said more than 20 issues still divide the sides.
"This constitution will divide the country," al-Mutlaq said after the midnight session.
US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that the major issues blocking a deal were federalism, purging the Baath Party and the issue of whether some of the officers of the assembly should be elected by a simple or two-thirds majority.
Sunnis -- who dominated Iraqi society under Saddam -- oppose decentralization, fearing it would cut them out of the country's oil wealth and leave them powerless.
Kurds demand federalism to protect their self-rule in three northern provinces.
The Sunnis have accepted Kurdish self-rule but oppose any extension of federalism as proposed by the biggest Shiite party, fearing that would also lead to the disintegration of Iraq.
Repeated delays are a deep embarrassment for the Bush administration. Washington had applied enormous pressure on the Iraqis to meet the original Aug. 15 deadline, but parliament instead had to grant a week's extension, which they again failed to meet.
Humam Hammoudi, head of the constitutional drafting committee, told reporters yesterday that he did not expect three days to be sufficient to solve all the outstanding issues.
But if no compromise can be reached on the Sunni demands, "we will turn it to the Iraqi people to say yes or no," he said.
Hammoudi said a federal structure was critical to maintaining democracy in Iraq.
"With all this oil income the central government will turn into, whether we like it or not, a dictatorship," he said.
Sunni leaders have threatened to order their followers to vote "no" in the October referendum on the new constitution unless their objections are addressed.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a