Iraq: Shias & Kurds Caught Trying to 'Fix' Referendum
IRAQ ASSEMBLY REVERSES VOTE 'FIX'Iraq's parliament reversed on Wednesday a ruling that would have helped a new constitution win approval in a referendum, appeasing minority Sunnis after the United Nations hinted it might refuse to endorse the vote.
Sunni politicians, many of whom say the charter favors Shi'ites and Kurds, and the White House welcomed parliament's move, which changed a decision on Sunday easing conditions for the October 15 referendum to secure a "yes" vote.
The National Assembly's Shi'ite majority insisted it acted by itself and not under pressure of the UN's veiled warnings. It also said it might challenge results if voters appeared to be scared off by insurgents opposed to the process.
A suicide car bomber killed 14 people outside a Shi'ite mosque in Hilla, south of Baghdad, as worshippers gathered for the start of the holy month of Ramadan, police said. A U.S. commander warned of a surge in violence in the run-up to the vote, including attacks on high-profile government sites.
Many Sunnis had complained of double standards in Sunday's ruling that defined the word "voters" in two different ways in one sentence of the interim constitution, to the disadvantage of Sunnis hoping for a blocking "No" vote in three provinces.
"They have reversed their decision as we had hoped they would," said U.N. spokesman Said Arikat in Baghdad.
Some Sunnis, with few seats in parliament after shunning elections in January, had threatened a new boycott if the ruling was not reversed; few expect to defeat the constitution, but the assembly's jitters highlighted fears of chaos if the charter does fail.
Targets set for approval or rejection of the constitution now both refer to proportions of votes cast rather than, in the case of rejection, registered voters. It will take effect if half the votes cast nationwide are in favor, and fail if two thirds in three of Iraq's 18 regions are cast against it.
WASHINGTON POSITIVE
Washington, anxious to defuse revolt among Sunni Arabs and bring the once dominant minority into a political system founded after the U.S. invasion, was also dismayed when parliament, in the words of one U.N. official, "moved the goalposts" on Sunday.
"They should encourage broader political participation, and the vote today does that and we think that's positive," said Scott McClellan, spokesman for U.S. President George W. Bush.
"What happened on Sunday was a big mistake," Sunni member of parliament Said al-Zubaidi said. "It was an act of foolishness against democracy. What happened today is only natural.
"But no one asked us about it," he added. "If it had not been for the United Nations, nothing would have changed."
The Shi'ite-led government had also admitted discomfort: "What is important for the Iraqi government is the credibility and legitimacy of the process, not the outcome," spokesman Laith Kubba said. "We do not like the perception that this process is being manipulated to bring a particular outcome."
Hussain al-Shahristani, the Shi'ite deputy speaker and Saddam Hussein-era dissident who chaired the assembly session, insisted that parliament had acted on its own initiative and was not being pushed around by outside interference. Reuters
SHIA & KURDS TRY TO RIG REFERENDUM
A United Nations spokesman said Tuesday that newly adopted rules for the coming Iraqi constitutional referendum appeared to violate accepted international standards, and United Nations officials pressed Kurdish and Shiite legislators to reconsider the rule change.
The new rules, which were quietly adopted Sunday by the Shiite- and Kurd-dominated National Assembly, will make it virtually impossible for the proposed constitution to fail.
The changes have infuriated many Sunni political leaders, who oppose the document, and have drawn strong criticism from independent political figures as well.
The thinly veiled criticism by the United Nations was especially significant because the organization was brought in to supervise the referendum, scheduled for Oct. 15, and confer a stamp of legitimacy on it.
Hussein al-Shahristani, the acting speaker of the National Assembly, said Shiite and Kurdish leaders had been discussing the issue with United Nations officials, and hoped to reach an agreement by Wednesday.
But other lawmakers said the talks appeared to be bogged down, with the Iraqis apparently unwilling to undo the change.
Sunni Arab leaders had already said they might boycott the referendum.
Other members of the National Assembly said the rule change could seriously damage the credibility of the vote, a crucial moment in Iraq's transition to full independence. Some warned that it could actually increase the chances of a vote against the constitution.
"They made this change because they were afraid the constitution would be rejected," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the National Assembly who opposes the change. "But now it may be counterproductive: they made the Sunnis so furious that maybe more of them will vote no."
Under the new rules, the constitution will fail only if two-thirds of registered voters - rather than two-thirds of those actually casting ballots - reject it in at least three of the 18 provinces.
The change would in effect require almost all of those voting in three provinces to reject the document. In making the change, the Shiite and Kurdish representatives designated two different meanings for the word "voters" in a single passage of the transitional law.
That prompted accusations of an unfair double standard that violates the intent of the law. The United Nation's comments appeared to make the same point.
"When there is a contradiction on two different interpretations within one text, that would become an issue," Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Secretary General Kofi Annan, said during a news conference at the United Nations in New York.
"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."
Shiite representatives have said they modified the law because they feared that violence in some provinces could keep people away from the polls and allow a small number of voters to overturn the constitution, even if much larger numbers approve it elsewhere.
Mr. Othman said Shiite and Kurdish representatives had floated a compromise proposal on Tuesday under which the rule change would be canceled.
But they added a proviso: rejection of the constitution would be valid only if voter turnout in the three provinces voting against it was equivalent to the average turnout across Iraq.
That kind of turnout is very unlikely, given past instances of violence and voter intimidation in the Sunni-dominated provinces where opposition to the constitution is high, and the United Nations rejected the proposal, Mr. Othman said.