BAGHDAD — In the latest sign that Iraq's draft constitution is creating more strife than healing, Sunni Muslim leaders unleashed a storm of criticism Monday at a law that would make it nearly impossible for them to muster enough votes to defeat the charter in an Oct. 15 referendum.
But after a day of tense meetings, one of the two main political parties running the government said it had bowed to pressure from U.S. and U.N. officials here and agreed to seek a change in the legislation as early as today.
The apparently simple question that developed into Iraq's latest political crisis is how many yes votes will be needed to adopt the constitution and how many no votes will be needed to defeat it. The Bush administration is eager for a yes vote to advance its formula for democratic rule, but is also worried about growing sectarian violence as it seeks to wind down its military presence.
Under the country's interim charter, the constitution will take effect if more than half the voters in Iraq approve it and if two-thirds of voters in three or more provinces do not reject it.
Iraqi politicians had assumed that "voters" meant those who turned out to vote, not registered voters. But as Sunni leaders began mobilizing for a defeat of the document in the few provinces where Sunnis are concentrated, Iraq's election commission asked the National Assembly for a clarification.
The result was a law approved Sunday by lawmakers from the ruling Shiite Muslim and Kurdish coalition. For the constitution to pass, the law said, more than half of those who turn out to vote must vote yes; for it to be defeated, two-thirds of registered voters in three or more provinces have to vote no.
The higher standard for a no vote would all but kill any chance for the charter's rejection in heavily Sunni provinces, even if everyone turning out there voted no. The overall turnout in Iraq's parliamentary election in January was less than 60% and far lower in Sunni areas.
"The fraud has begun right from now," said Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni politician who was on the body that drew up the proposed constitution. He and other Sunnis opposed the draft largely because it called for a decentralized government, which they fear would fragment Iraq, allowing Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north to form ministates that would dominate the oil wealth.
