Some on Panel Expect Constitution Delay

With an Aug. 15 deadline looming, several members of the committee writing Iraq’s new constitution predicted Sunday that the panel would be unable to iron out major differences by mid-month and would instead request an extension.

“The direction is toward postponement,” said committee member Younadam Kanna, adding that a final decision would be made today, the cutoff date for seeking a delay.

Debate over an extension topped a busy day for the National Assembly, whose discussions intensified over both the constitution and the next round of parliamentary elections scheduled for December.

Kurdish parliamentarians led a dramatic walkout in a dispute over the format of the coming vote, and female politicians and activists stepped up their campaign to prevent an erosion of women’s rights in the new constitution.

Under the terms of the interim law now governing Iraq, if a delay is not requested, the new constitution is to be completed by Aug. 15. It then is to be put to a national referendum. If approved, new parliamentary elections are to be held.

“We need more time,” said Mahmoud Othman, a senior Kurdish politician. “Even if it means amending the [interim law]. We wrote it. We can amend it.”

A delay would disappoint U.S. officials, who have pushed drafters to finish on time, arguing that any postponement would further embolden insurgents and erode public faith in the new government.

Othman acknowledged heavy pressure from the Americans, but said Iraqis should not sacrifice substance for speed. “They want a fast-food constitution,” he said with a chuckle.

Drafting the constitution is the primary task for Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari’s government, which was elected in January.

But the process has been hindered by a several-months delay in the formation of Jafari’s administration and extended negotiations on how to include Sunni Arab representatives in the drafting, because few took part in the election.

The thorniest issues facing drafters revolve around how much power regions should have vis-a-vis the central government, the distribution of oil revenue and the role of Islam in law.

Kurdish politicians are pushing for a system that would maintain the near-total autonomy enjoyed by the Kurdish north since 1991. They also hope to lay claim to oil revenue from the disputed Kirkuk region.

Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni Arab committee member, characterized the Kurds’ demands as unrealistic and a threat to a unified Iraq.

“The Kurds have to be reasonable. Nobody will give them what they’re asking for now,” said Mutlak, who proposed leaving the federalism debate out of the current constitution and addressing it later.

But Kurdish politicians, aware that their hand may never be stronger, seem determined to gain significant concessions now. Other politicians say the points of contention can be resolved on time. The issues, they say, don’t require further study -- merely the kind of hard-fought compromises that come only from a firm deadline.

“All these problems can be solved in two weeks,” said Salama Khafaji, a National Assembly member and former member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council. “What are we going to do in another six months?”

While much of the tension in the new government has been between Shiites and Kurds on one hand and Sunni Arabs on the other, some issues are dividing Shiites and Kurds.

On Sunday, Kurds joined forces with representatives of the secular Iraqi List slate (led by former Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi) in walking out of the assembly to protest what they called a Shiite attempt to railroad changes to the format for the next elections.

Khafaji, a member of Allawi’s slate, said the Shiites launched a surprise vote to scrap the nationwide voting system used in January’s elections. Instead, they proposed having each of Iraq’s 18 governorates serve as a voting district, with each sending a number of parliamentarians commensurate with their populations.

Despite pleas for a 48-hour period to study the proposal, Khafaji said Shiite leaders insisted on an immediate vote. The Kurds and most of Allawi’s deputies walked out, denying the Shiites the necessary quorum for a vote.

Meanwhile, women’s activists led by the Iraqi ambassador to Egypt, Safia Taleb al Suhail, met with National Assembly Speaker Hachim Hassani to lobby for constitutional provisions to protect women’s rights.

Proposed drafts have given primacy to both religious and tribal law -- which women fear will put them at a disadvantage in matters of marriage, divorce and inheritance.

“We won’t accept a constitution that doesn’t support the rights of women,” Suhail said.

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Times staff writers Saif Rasheed and Caesar Ahmed contributed to this report.