Iraqi women line up to vote at a polling station in the city of Basra, Iraq, January 30, 2005. (Photo: Richard Mills/The Times/AP Wide World)

Monday, August 22—The proposed constitution sent to the Iraqi National Assembly on Monday may cause more problems than it solves. Three groups worked on writing the constitution: the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. The Shiites and Kurds are reportedly pushing through a draft that does not resolve issues of concern to the Sunni minority.

Two main issues to be resolved are how the groups will be represented in the government, and the role of religion in establishing law.

Iraqis are expected to vote on the constitution on October 15, after approval by the National Assembly. The deadline for turning in a draft that all three sides agreed on was midnight Monday (4 p.m. ET on Monday). Sunnis do not support the current draft.

"What about the principle of consensus [agreement of all the people in a meeting]?" asked Sunni delegate Sadoun Zubaidi. "If you abandon the principle of consensus, you abandon the basis on which you're forming the constitution. We insist on being part of the process."

Federalism

The current draft establishes a federal system of government. Federalism is a union of states that agree to a central authority as the greater power. Sunnis wanted federalism left out of the constitution.

Kurds and Shiites want to establish three separate states, one for each group. Boundaries would be drawn based on where most of these groups live. Kurds control the north, Shiites the south, and Sunnis the central area of the nation.

Sunnis object because the nation's rich oil and gas regions are in the north and south—where the Shiites and Kurds live.

Religion

Iraq is named as an Islamic state in the current draft. That means that no law can contradict the principles of Islamic religion. Islamic clerics will serve on the court that will interpret the constitution. Families can choose whether their cases should be decided by religious or non-religious law.

Opponents say the religious court system would discriminate against women, who have very few rights under Islamic law. They also say that all Iraqis would have to obey religious laws—even if they believed a different religion.

Although Sunnis are the minority population, they were in control of the government under Saddam Hussein. Sunnis want a stronger central government and less religious influence on the law. Shiite and Kurdish leaders say Sunnis can voice their disapproval in October's vote.

"We gave a choice—whoever doesn't want federalism can opt not to practice it," said Shiite constitutional committee member Ali Debagh. "We depended upon democracy in writing the constitution and will depend upon it in the [meeting]."