Iraqi Sunnis fail to agree on Charter vote

BAGHDAD—The threat of a unified Sunni Arab boycott of next week’s constitutional vote in Iraq receded on Saturday as Sunni leaders failed to agree on how to oppose the U.S.-backed document. After a meeting in a Baghdad mosque, Sunni leaders said they hoped those voters who do decide to participate will vote “No.” The lack of consensus revealed divisions in the Sunni community, with some groups insisting on a boycott to rob the referendum of legitimacy, and others saying a massive Sunni “No” vote was the only way to properly defeat it.
“We do not ask the Iraqi people to boycott or not,” said Harith al-Dhari, the head of the Muslim Clerics’ Association, one of the Sunni groups arguing strategy ahead of the October 15 referendum. “We ask them to do everything they legitimately can to reject the draft of the constitution,” he told Reuters, leaving followers to choose whether that is to vote “No,” or to stay at home. The Sunnis’ meeting came as U.S. forces announced they had ended a week-long operation in western Iraq to secure the area ahead of the vote, killing some 50 insurgents during the offensive near the Syrian border, the military said. Iraq has been hit by a stepped-up campaign of insurgent bombings, suicide attacks and kidnappings in the run-up to the referendum. The interior minister has announced tough security measures, including curfews, for the time around the vote. Around 15 million Iraqis are registered for the referendum on a constitution proposed by the Shi’ite- and Kurdish-led government, which tailored many of the articles to its requirements. It will pass if more than half of voters say “Yes” and as long as two thirds of voters in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces do not say “No”.
Sunni Arabs, who make up about a fifth of Iraq’s population, have a majority in at least three provinces and so have a slim chance of defeating the constitution if they can generate a very high Sunni turnout in those areas. Sunnis oppose the charter because they say it gives too much power to the Shi’ites and Kurds, allowing them to create federal regions in the north and south, where Iraq’s oil wealth lies.
If they decide to boycott the vote, as many did elections in January, it could undermine the referendum’s legitimacy. It might pass, but at the risk of alienating Sunnis further and fuelling the insurgency. Several hundred monitors, including from the Arab League, are set to oversee the referendum, which will be the largest organizational effort Iraq has undertaken since January’s election, when more than eight million people cast ballots. Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, told BBC radio on Saturday that the country was close to civil war and said there seemed to be no strategy for bringing rival groups together. “The situation is so tense ... a civil war could erupt at any moment, although some people would say it is already there”.
Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor announced a series of strict security measures ahead of the referendum, echoing arrangements made in January, saying the country’s borders would be sealed for four days and curfews imposed overnight. Cars will be banned from moving between provinces and no civilians, even those with permits, will be allowed to carry weapons. Tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers will be on duty to protect more than 6,000 polling sites, with U.S. and other foreign troops backing up if needed.
U.S. forces have launched a series of operations in western Iraq in the run up to the referendum, aiming to quell the insurgency and make it safer for people to vote. Late on Friday U.S. commanders said they had completed operation Iron Fist, which was focused on insurgents believed to be hiding out near the Syrian border, and said they had killed more than 50 rebels.—Agencies