BAGHDAD — Sunni Arab lawmakers appeared Wednesday to have won their demand for a referendum that would let the public vote on a pact allowing U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for three more years.
The referendum was part of a package of legislation that Sunni legislators demanded be tied to the pact, known as the Status of Forces Agreement, which sets Dec. 31, 2011, as the date by which all American forces must leave Iraq.
The parliament had planned to vote on the accord Wednesday but delayed it by at least a day as the ruling Shiite Muslim and Kurdish coalition struggled to win support from Sunni Arab parties.
The referendum issue appeared to have been resolved to the Sunnis' satisfaction after dogged last-minute negotiations, Iraqi lawmakers from across the political spectrum said Wednesday.
"Regarding the referendum, it is included in the legislation," said Ridha Jawad Taqi, a lawmaker with the United Iraqi Alliance, the main Shiite bloc. Kurdish lawmaker Ala Noori Talabani said the powerful Kurdish alliance also had come to support the Sunnis' demand for the public vote.
But new wrinkles were added as some Sunni legislators held out for additional concessions. They included elimination of a special tribunal that prosecutes members of former dictator Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led government for crimes committed on the regime's behalf, and the scrapping of a law limiting opportunities for onetime top members of Hussein's Baath Party.
"We will not enter the session and vote unless these two demands are agreed upon," said Mohammed Tamim of the National Dialogue Front, a mainly Sunni slate with 11 seats.
Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers, who represent groups targeted by Hussein, balked at these demands.
"Canceling them is difficult because we are among those who suffered from the old regime," Talabani said.
Even without Sunni support, the agreement probably could pass the 275-seat parliament. However, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, has made it clear that he wants broad-based support for the pact. That has meant negotiating long-festering demands put forward by the Sunnis, whose blocs hold 71 seats.
As a result, what began as a debate over the future of U.S. forces here has evolved into a political showdown reflective of the resentment, sectarian distrust and grudges among Iraqi lawmakers. The main Sunni bloc, Tawafiq, led the way in using the security agreement as a bargaining chip for winning its demand for the referendum.
