Iraq Parliament Reverses Vote Rule Change

[ECH1969]

Iraq's National Assembly voted on Wednesday to reverse last-minute changes it had made to rules for next week's referendum on a new constitution following criticism by the United Nations and a boycott threat by the Sunni minority.

After a brief debate and with only about half of its 275 members present, the assembly voted 119-28 to restore the original voting rules for the referendum, which will take place Oct. 15. Washington hopes a "yes" vote in the referendum will unite Iraq's disparate factions and erode support for the country's bloody insurgency.

U.S. and U.N. officials hope that restoring the original rules will avert a boycott of the referendum by the Sunni minority, action that would have deeply undermined the credibility of the vote and set back efforts to bring Sunnis into the political process.

"The government is completely keen to make the constitutional process legitimate and of high credibility and we are concerned about the success of this process rather than the results of the referendum," government spokesman Laith Kubba said after the vote.

http://kutv.com/topstories/topstories_story_278073650.html

[YDogg]

1. Make it up as you go along, folks.

It's about what's happening here, now.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Good - now the Sunnis have a vague chance of rejecting the constitution

if they really feel strongly about it. The "two thirds of all registered voters" rules would have been absurd - especially in a country with bombs going off all the time. All it would have taken were attacks, or even rumours of attacks, in the Sunni-majority provinces, on the day(s?) of the vote, and many people would stay at home rather than risk going to the obvious targets of polling stations. At least this way a low turnout in a warzone could still stop the constitution if those provinces have some people brave enough to oppose it.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Iraq's "constitution" is a sick joke.

Hopefully it fails.