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BAGHDAD, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders have
reached a "deal in principle" on a draft
constitution, the speaker of parliament said early
on Saturday, but no accord was yet clinched and a
final decision would only be clear on Sunday.
Hajim al-Hassani, a Sunni, told Reuters that
negotiators from the Shi'ite majority had proposed a
number of amendments to an existing draft to meet
Sunni demands; Sunni leaders had yet to give a
definite response, he said, but the amendments did
deal with those issues which were troubling the
Sunnis.
Sunni party leaders were not immediately available
for comment after talks that stretched late into the
night.
If there were no agreement by Sunday there would
definitely be no further discussion, Hassani said,
and a final draft based on Shi'ite and Kurdish
proposals would be put to October's referendum
without the support of the Sunni delegates.
"There is a deal in principle," he said. "Today we
had a response from the Shi'ites. Tomorrow the
Sunnis are going to meet and we expect a response on
Sunday," he said.
"Definitely on Sunday ... we will either announce an
agreement but if their (the Sunnis') response is
negative we will go to the referendum anyway."
The compromise from the Shi'ites concerned
federalism, among other things.
Earlier, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad
Chalabi, a secular Shi'ite, said there was a deal
and said that the Shi'ite and Kurdish government
parties had agreed to leave the mechanisms for
setting up federal regions to be decided by
parliament after a December election.
Legislation on excluding former members of Saddam
Hussein's banned Baath party from public life would
also left in the hands of a new parliament, he said,
addressing Sunni concerns.
Reuters
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