Reply #6: Sunnis fail to agree boycott of Iraq referendum [View All]

[ECH1969]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The threat of a unified Sunni Arab boycott of next week's constitutional vote in Iraq receded on Saturday as Sunni leaders failed to agree on how to oppose the U.S.-backed document.

After a meeting in a Baghdad mosque, Sunni leaders said they hoped those voters who do decide to participate will vote "No."

The lack of consensus revealed divisions in the Sunni community, with some groups insisting on a boycott to rob the referendum of legitimacy, and others saying a massive Sunni "No" vote was the only way to properly defeat it.

"We do not ask the Iraqi people to boycott or not," said Harith al-Dhari, the head of the Muslim Clerics' Association, one of the Sunni groups arguing strategy ahead of the October 15 referendum.

http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=100562