Amendment to the Constitution of Iraq

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The government of Iraq has established a committee to consider a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Iraq.

Contents 1 Current constitution 2 Agreement to consider amendments 3 Procedure 4 Committee appointment 5 Proposals 5.1 Iraq Study Group 6 References

[edit] Current constitution

The current Constitution of Iraq was drafted by a committee of the Iraqi Transitional Government. The agreed text was put to a referendum in October 2005. It was approved by 79% of voters and 15 out of 18 governorates.

[edit] Agreement to consider amendments

In an agreement prior to the referendum, the largest Sunni Arab majority party, the Iraqi Islamic Party agreed to support a "Yes" vote as long as the first parliament elected under the constitution agreed to consider amendments. This agreement was written into Article 142 of the constitution.

[edit] Procedure

Article 137 of the constiution states that the Council of Representatives shall form a committee from its members "representing the principal components of the Iraqi society" which should present proposed amendments to the Council within four months. ^[1] The amendment package shall be voted on as a whole by the Council, and if passed, put to a referendum which shall pass if approved by a majority of voters and is not rejected by a two-thirds majority in three or more governorates. The conditions for this referendum is the same as the conditions for the original rafification referendum.

The constitution can also be amended by a general procedure which is laid down in Article 122, and which requires a two-thirds approval in the Council of Ministers, followed by approval by a simple majority in a referendum.

[edit] Committee appointment

The committee of 27 was appointed on 2006-09-25, chaired by Iraqi Accord Front member Iyad al-Samarrai. The committee comprised 27 members ^{[2] [3]} split as follows:

• United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite): 12
  • SCIRI and allies: ^[4]
    • Shaykh Hummam Hamudi
    • Shaykh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir
    • Abd al-Karim al-Naqib (Badr Organization)
    • Abbas al-Bayati (Islamic Union of Iraqi Turkoman)
  • Islamic Dawa Party - Iraq Organisation
    • Ali al-Allaq
    • Abd al-Karim al-'Anzi
  • Islamic Dawa Party
    • Sami al-'Askari
  • Islamic Virtue Party
    • Ammar Tuma
    • Hassan al-Shammari
  • independent
    • Qasim Dawud
  • unknown
    • Najiha Abd al-Amir
    • Jabir Habib Jabir
• Kurdistani Alliance (Kurdish): 5
  • Fu'ad Ma'sum
  • Sa'd al-Barzanji
  • Feryad Rawandazi
  • Abdallah Salih
  • Ahmad Anwar Muhammad
• Iraqi Accord Front (Sunni Arab): 4
  • Iyad al-Samarra'i
  • Hussein al-Falluji
  • Salim al-Jabburi
  • Izz al-Din al-Dawlah
• Iraqi National List (secular): 2
  • Aliya Nassif Osairan
  • Hamid Majid Musa
• Iraqi National Dialogue Front: 1
  • Muhammad Ali Tamim ^[5]

In addition the representatives of the Turkmen, Sabeans and Yazidis were invited to nominate a member each to join the committee ^[6]

The Iraqi National Dialogue Front have rejected the deal that lead to the formation of the committee and have refused to participate.

[edit] Proposals

Further information: Federalism in Iraq

The main proposed amendments have come from the Sunni Arab majority parties who want to make it more difficult to establish an oil-rich Shiite "super-region" in the south of Iraq ^{[7] [8]}

However, SCIRI has insisted that "essence" of the constitution should be maintained and has pushed for the creation of a Shiite Region covering the nine southern governorates. On March 16 Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI proposed a compromise whereby two Regions are created - one in the far South near Basra and one for the middle Euphrates region. ^[9]

The Islamic Virtue Party governor of Basra has expressed support for a Region covering Basrah and its only its two neighbouring governorates of Maysan and Dhiqar. ^[10]

The Sadrist Movement supports a stronger central government, saying that federalism should not be applied to the south "while Iraq is still under occupation". ^[11]

[edit] Iraq Study Group

The Iraq Study Group of senior american politicians recommended that the constitution be amended as follows: ^[12]

• Oil revenue should accrue wholly to the central government and not split with the regions
• The referendum on Kirkuk joining the Iraqi Kurdistan region should be delayed

[edit] References