[lbo-talk] Sistani: Constitution Is Not Legitimate Till Approved By Elected Body

[Dwayne Monroe]

Driving home, I listened to an Iraqi gentleman
interviewed on NPR describe the newly signed
constitution as a "time bomb".  His reasoning, if
memory serves, was that the document not only fails to
resolve tensions between competing groups, it codifies
them.

DRM

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Iraq's Al-Sistani Criticizes Constitution

	
Mon Mar 8,11:22 AM ET

	

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's top Shiite cleric criticized
the nation's newly signed interim constitution on
Monday, saying it will not have legitimacy until it is
approved by an elected body.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani said he
still has reservations about the charter, hours after
the Governing Council signed it.

"Any law prepared for the transitional period will not
gain legitimacy except after it is endorsed by an
elected national assembly," al-Sistani said in a
fatwa, or religious ruling, released on his Web site.

"Additionally, this law places obstacles in the path
of reaching a permanent constitution for the country
that maintains its unity, the rights of its sons of
all sects and ethnic backgrounds," he said.

Al-Sistani was referring to a clause in the document
that effectively gives Kurds and Sunni Arabs — who
comprise 30 to 40 percent of the population — a veto
over a permanent constitution when it comes to a
referendum late next year. Shiites are believed to
account for 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people.

The clause states that the constitution will be
rejected if two-thirds of the population of three
provinces votes against it — even if it wins a
majority nationwide. The Kurds, who hold a majority in
three provinces, wanted the clause to ensure that any
permanent constitution does not reduce their self-rule
region.

Al-Sistani opposes the clause because it gives a
minority the power to block the will of Iraq's Shiite
majority, and his objections prompted most of the
Governing Council's 13 Shiites to refuse to sign the
document Friday.

In talks over the weekend, the cleric signaled to the
five that while he still had reservations about the
charter, he would not stop them from approving it.

The interim constitution, which will be in effect
until it is replaced by the permanent charter in late
2005, is not due to come under a vote by any elected
body.

from -

<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040308/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_critical_cleric_2>