Amendment to the Constitution of Iraq

Amendment to the Constitution of Iraq

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

Contents

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.

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.

Procedure

Article 142 of the constitution 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 are the same as the conditions for the original ratification referendum.

The constitution can also be amended by a general procedure which is laid down in Article 126, and which requires a two-thirds approval in the Council of Ministers, followed by approval by a simple majority in a referendum.

Committee appointment

The committee of 27 was appointed on 2006-09-25, chaired by Iraqi Accord Front member Ayad al-Samarrai. The committee comprised 27 members [2] [3] drawn from senior politicians across the political spectrum in rough proportions to the Council of Representatives of Iraq that was elected in the Iraqi legislative election of December 2005:

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.

Amendments proposed

Seven areas have been identified as areas where one or more of the political forces in Iraq would like to change:[7]

  1. The ability of constitutional changes to be vetoed by three out of the 18 governorates
  2. Iraq's Arab identity
  3. The shape of the federal system
  4. The status of Kirkuk
  5. The split of oil revenues between national and regional governments
  6. The role of Islam
  7. De-Baathification

Positions

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[8][9]

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. [10] 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. [11] The Sadrist Movement supports a stronger central government, saying that federalism should not be applied to the south "while Iraq is still under occupation". [12]

The National Dialogue Front has asked that the de-Baathification provisions be reworded to "be fair to those that have suffered under this article". [13]

Iraq Study Group

The Iraq Study Group of senior American politicians recommended that the constitution be amended as follows: [14]

  • 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

Kurdistani Alliance

The Kurdistani Alliance submitted a working paper in April 2007 with the following proposed changes:

Iraqi Accord Front

The Iraqi Accord Front was reported in July 2007 of seeking the following changes:[16]

  • Whilst now accepting the establishment of new Regions of Iraq, it wants the powers of these to be limited
  • Deleting references to the religious Hawza of Najaf
  • Remove the de-Baathification clauses
  • Bringing existing as well as future crude oil fields into the law on oil
  • Postponing the Kirkuk status referendum

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Constitution of Iraq — Iraq This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Iraq …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of Malaysia — Ratified 27 August 1957 Authors Delegates of the Reid Commission and later of the Cobbold Commission Purpose Indepe …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of Indonesia — Ratified 18 August 1945 Authors Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence Purpose Independence of Indonesia …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of India — India This article is part of the series: Constitution of India …   Wikipedia

  • Government of Iraq from 2006 — The current government of Iraq took office on May 20, 2006 [ [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2006/05/iraq 060522 usia02.htm] following approval by the members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the general election …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of Singapore — Singapore This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Singapore Constitution Legisl …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of the Maldives — Maldives This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Maldives …   Wikipedia

  • Iraq Resolution — and Iraq War Resolution are popular names for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, [http://www.c span.org/resources/pdf/hjres114.pdf Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002]… …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of the Philippines — Created 1986 Ratified February 2, 1987 Authors Cecilia Muñoz Palma (deceased) …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution Project — The Constitution Project Constitution Project Logo Formation 1997 Headquarters Washington, D.C. We …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”