An Iraqi woman casts her vote in Iraq's referendum on the new constitution at a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq on October 13, 2005. (Photo: Karim Kadim/AP Wide World)

Friday, October 14—Iraqis will vote Saturday on a new constitution. The vote comes 10 months after the National Assembly, a temporary government chosen to draft the new constitution, was chosen. Much is at stake as the Iraqis go to the polls: the beginning of a permanent government, peace between Iraq's ethnic groups, and an end to terrorist attacks.

The Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds are Iraq's three main ethnic groups. Shiites in southern Iraq and Kurds in the north both agree that they want to have separate, self-governing regions under the new constitution. The Sunnis, who occupy the middle of the country, do not support this idea.

Since the northern and southern regions have more oil than the middle, Sunnis fear that the Shiites and Kurds will keep the nation's oil for themselves.

"If the Sunnis do not buy into this draft... then it would be a problem," said U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad.

Sunnis are in the minority of the population. They make up only 20 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. Under Saddam Hussein, the Sunnis were in control. Now they must compromise to find an equal balance of power between the groups.

On Wednesday, the Sunnis came to an agreement with the Shiites and Kurds. Under these new conditions, the constitution will only be temporary, giving the Sunnis a chance to amend, or change, it later—if it passes at all. Sunni leaders urged their followers to vote against the constitution.

The constitution will fail if two-thirds of voters in 3 out of Iraq's 18 provinces reject it. If it passes, National Assembly members would reevaluate it in December, write a new draft two months later, and hold another vote next spring.

"It will add another six months of [temporary] government, and a lot of people would like to get on with their lives," said Laith Kubba, a spokesman for the Iraqi government.