Iraq's draft constitution signed

Members of Iraq’s constitution drafting committee signed the draft constitution today after some amendments, Shiite committee member Khaled al-Attiyah said.

The draft now goes to the Iraqi people in an October 15 referendum. Five million copies will be circulated nationwide in food parcels that each Iraqi family receives monthly from the government.

The amendments were made in hopes of appeasing the Sunni Arab minority, including removing the word “party” from the phrase about Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and allowing the parliament to be elected in December to decide the fate of a committee set up to purge for members.

But it was unclear if that was enough to appease the Sunni Arabs and whether the 15 Sunni negotiators signed the final document. Committee members appeared in the meeting hall for a group photo but made no statements.

Before al-Attiyah’s comments, Sunni negotiator Sadoun Zubaydi said “this is the end as far as the marginalised groups are concerned” and “as far as the drafting process is concerned.

“We now have to see how to proceed from here,” he said.

The ceremony marking completion of the drafting process was set for 2:30pm (10.30am Irish Time).

Shiite legislator Mohammed Baqir al-Bahadli said “the constitution drafting committee has completed its work” and that an advertising and media campaign would begin right after the announcement to try to sell the draft to the public.

Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani had said the National Assembly would convene today to accept the draft, despite opposition from Sunni Arabs to portions of the document.

No time had been set for the meeting as of midday, and the interim constitution does not implicitly require legislative approval.