Sunnis given 25 seats on Iraqi (Constitutional) committee

[ECH1969]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Muslim Arabs will be given up to 25 seats on the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution, President Jalal Talabani said Thursday.

The announcement, made during a visit to Baghdad by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, was a victory for Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who threatened to pull out of the political process if they were not given a bigger say on the committee.

"We have decided to add about 20 to 25 members from Sunnis in the committee, which will draft the constitution with full rights like other members who were elected by the parliament," Talabani said. "This will be done very soon and we are discussing to finalize the making of this decision," he added.

Talabani's call seemed to meet demands made a day earlier by top Sunni leaders for 27 seats on a committee drafting the new Constitution. Two Sunni Arab lawmakers sit on a 55-member parliamentary committee drafting the charter, but Sunni Arabs felt this was too small a representation.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/special_packages/iraq/11853072.htm

[merwin]

1. A couple reasons why this will not work

1- They're kicking out half of the people that were ELECTED to seats and giving them to the Sunni's?
2- Something tells me the insurgency doesn't give a rat's ass about the constitutional committee.

[ECH1969]

2. I doubt they will kick out half the elected steats

and give them to Sunnis.

[merwin]

3. Exactly.

[Charles19]

4. They didn't, they created more seats, what I read was only 15 though

They wanted like 30 and I thought they only created 15 new ones. This article says 26 which is almost what they demanded.

[necso]

5. An addition of 25

Sunnis (non-Kurdish) would give these Sunnis (with 2 seats already) > 1/3 seats (27/80 = 33.75%).

This isn't unreasonable as the Sunnis have the referendum (and violence) as a means of "vetoing" the Constitution anyway.

But, in any event, adding a large number of Sunnis is a major concession and it should be recognized as such. However, whether or not this will result in the Sunnis "buying into" the process is another matter. While it would make sense for them to do so, such things do not always drive people's decisions.

Time will tell.