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The
debate over the new constitution could turn into the
real “mother of all battles”.
The National Assembly this week made history more
than once. Members chose a Kurd as the first ever
democratically elected president of the country.
Another first was the selection of a former
president as one of two vice presidents.
By choosing the head of state, the assembly came a
step closer to engaging in the next, and in all
probability, toughest stage in the country’s
political development - drafting a permanent
democratic constitution, to replace the interim
Transitional Administrative Law, TAL.
The new president, Jalal Talabani, head of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, a veteran
politician and a former guerrilla leader, has at the
age of 73 realised his greatest achievement. His two
deputies are the former interim president Ghazi Al-Yawar
and the outgoing finance minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
The presidency has collectively moved swiftly to
appoint a prime minister, the Shia-dominated Iraqi
National Alliance, INA, candidate for the post,
Ibrahim Al-Ja’afari. The Islamist, Al-Da’awa party
leader needs a small parliamentary majority to be
confirmed, and will then be allowed four weeks to
present his cabinet to the assembly.
After forming and approving the government,
parliament will then start the process of drafting
the constitution. A referendum on the draft will
have to be held by August and, assuming the document
is approved by popular vote, general elections
should take place in December.
The process of creating a government is likely to be
fraught with difficulties, since there are stark
disagreements over how it should be composed between
the main blocks in the assembly on the one hand, and
within the INA - which consists of some 15 parties
and groups - on the other.
Al-Ja’afari will have a tough time reconciling
conflicting demands over the distribution of
ministerial posts. The Kurds want a strong secular
Arab representation in order not to feel isolated in
a Shia-dominated cabinet headed by an Islamist
premier - especially since the Shia insist on
getting either the defence ministry, or else both
the oil and interior ministries.
This is why the Kurds insist that the Iraqi List
leader, the outgoing prime minister Ayad Allawi,
must be persuaded to join the government and be
given either the interior or the defence ministry.
The Kurds, already guaranteed one of the three
deputy prime minister posts and the foreign
ministry, want six more cabinet posts.
They will trade hard to ensure that these include
the important ministry of planning, which oversees
the international reconstruction fund. They probably
want this post for the outgoing deputy prime
minister Barham Saleh, a senior PUK aide to Talabani.
Most likely his current position will be occupied by
the former vice president Rozh Shawais of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP, headed by Masu’d
Barzani.
One way or another, the cabinet will be formed
within the next month. Despite the difficulties,
this will be a minor battle compared to the fierce
fight that’s envisaged over the formulation of the
constitution.
There will be two areas of major difference in the
constitutional debate. Top of the list comes the
issue of state and religion. Article 7 (A) of TAL
states that the country’s official faith is Islam
and that it should be considered a source of
legislation. During the debate on the interim
constitution last year, there was great deal of
heated discussion about whether Islam should be the
or a source of legislation.
A consensus was finally reached, although each side
considered the wording favoured the other. The
debate is expected to be even more acrimonious now,
since this time it is about a permanent constitution
that cannot be easily changed - with the
secularists, headed by the Kurds, insisting that
while the legislation must not contradict Islam it
should not be at variance with other religions in
Iraq.
The secularists will also point out that keeping
Article 7 (A) the way it is means it’s at odds with
the bill of rights enshrined in Articles 10-23 of
TAL.
Article 12, for example, states that all Iraqis have
equal rights - without regard to gender, sect,
opinion, belief, nationality, religion, or origin -
and are equal before the law.
The issue of federalism will be another source of
conflict in the drafting of the constitution – this
despite the fact that all sides accept a federal
system.
Article 4 of TAL stipulates that the system of
government in Iraq shall be republican, federal,
democratic and pluralistic, with powers shared
between the federal and regional governments,
governorates, municipalities and local
administrations - based upon geographic and
historical realities.
However, no one doubts that there will be serious
differences between Kurds and Shia and Sunni Arabs
when it comes to defining the concept of federalism.
The Kurds will insist on their own concept of a
federal Kurdistan based on an ethnic-geographical
principle, which must include Kirkuk. They will face
strong opposition from the Arabs who prefer a
federal system based on non-ethnic regional
administrations.
It is only a matter of a few weeks before the next
most important stage of the fight for the new Iraq.
The drafting of the constitution could end up being
the real “mother of all battles”.
Kamran Al-Karadaghi is editorial adviser for IWPR’s
Iraq project.
www.iwpr.net
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