Amendment to the Constitution of Iraq
Encyclopedia
The government
of Iraq
has established a committee to consider a proposed amendment to the 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
.
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.
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.
member Ayad al-Samarrai
. The committee comprised 27 members 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 Yazidi
s were invited to nominate a member each to join the committee
The Iraqi National Dialogue Front have rejected the deal that lead to the formation of the committee and have refused to participate.
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. 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. The Sadrist Movement
supports a stronger central government, saying that federalism should not be applied to the south "while Iraq is still under occupation".
The National Dialogue Front has asked that the de-Baathification provisions be reworded to "be fair to those that have suffered under this article".
of senior American politicians recommended that the constitution be amended as follows:
Government of Iraq from 2006
The current government of Iraq took office on May 20, 2006 following approval by the members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the general election in December 2005...
of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
has established a committee to consider a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Iraq.
Current constitution
The current Constitution of IraqConstitution of Iraq
The Constitution of Iraq is Iraq's fundamental law.-History:Iraq's first constitution, which established a constitutional monarchy, entered into force under the auspices of a British military occupation in 1925 and remained in effect until the 1958 revolution established a republic...
was drafted by a committee
Members of the Iraqi Constitution Drafting Committee
The members of the Iraqi Constitution Drafting Committee were appointed by the Iraqi Transitional Government on 12 May 2005 to draft a new constitution for Iraq.The breakdown of members by political affiliation was:* United Iraqi Alliance - 28...
of the Iraqi Transitional Government
Iraqi Transitional Government
The Iraqi Transitional Government was the government of Iraq from May 3rd, 2005, when it replaced the Iraqi Interim Government, until May 20th, 2006, when it was replaced by the first permanent government....
. The agreed text was put to a referendum
Iraqi constitution ratification vote, 2005
The electorate of Iraq went to the polls on 15 October 2005 to vote in a referendum on whether or not to ratify the proposed constitution of Iraq. After 10 days of counting votes, the country's electoral commission announced that the constitution had been approved by a wide margin nationwide...
in October 2005. It was approved by 79% of voters and 15 out of 18 governorates
Governorates of Iraq
||Iraq is composed of 18 provinces :#Baghdād #Salāh ad-Dīn #Diyālā #Wāsit #Maysān #Al-Basrah #Dhī Qār #Al-Muthannā #Al-Qādisiyyah...
.
Agreement to consider amendments
In an agreement prior to the referendum, the largest Sunni ArabArab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
majority party, the Iraqi Islamic Party
Iraqi Islamic Party
The Iraqi Islamic Party is currently the largest Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq as well as the most prominent member of the Iraqi Accord Front political coalition. It is currently part of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki...
agreed to support a "Yes" vote as long as the first parliament
Government of Iraq from 2006
The current government of Iraq took office on May 20, 2006 following approval by the members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the general election in December 2005...
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. 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 FrontIraqi Accord Front
The Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni-Islamist political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Party to contest the December 2005 general election...
member Ayad al-Samarrai
Ayad al-Samarrai
Ayad al-Samarrai is a Sunni Arab Iraqi politician, who was the chairman of the Iraqi Accord Front parliamentary group, and since July 2011 is the secretary-general of the Iraqi Islamic Party...
. The committee comprised 27 members 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:
- United Iraqi AllianceUnited Iraqi AllianceThe National Iraqi Alliance , also known as the Watani List, is an Iraqi electoral coalition that contested the Iraqi legislative election, 2010. The Alliance is mainly composed of Shi'a Islamist parties...
(Shiite): 12- SCIRISciriSciri may refer to:*Scirii, people*SCIRI, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq...
and allies:- Shaykh Hummam Hamudi
- Shaykh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir
- Abd al-Karim al-Naqib (Badr OrganizationBadr OrganizationThe Badr Organization previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps is an Iraqi political party headed by Hadi al-Amiri...
) - Abbas al-BayatiAbbas al-BayatiNatik Abbas Hasan al-Bayati is an Iraqi Shiite Turkmen politician and a member of the Iraqi National Assembly. He is a member of the United Iraqi Alliance....
(Islamic Union of Iraqi TurkomanIslamic Union of Iraqi TurkomanThe Islamic Union of Iraqi Turkoman is a political party in Iraq led by Abbas al-Bayati. It was formed in 1991 and participated in discussions with other exile groups before the invasion of Iraq...
)
- Islamic Dawa Party - Iraq OrganisationIslamic Dawa Party - Iraq OrganisationThe Islamic Dawa Party was formed in 1957 in the Iraqi holy City of Najaf. Their aim was to create a movement which would promote Islamic values and ethics, and which would become an instrument for political activeness. This came at a time when there was widespread ignorance about religion and...
- Ali al-Allaq
- Abd al-Karim al-'Anzi
- Islamic Dawa PartyIslamic Dawa PartyThe Islamic Dawa Party or Islamic Call Party is a political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of the main parties in the religious-Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which won a plurality of seats in both the provisional January 2005 Iraqi election and the longer-term...
- Sami al-'Askari
- Islamic Virtue PartyIslamic Virtue PartyIslamic Virtue Party is an Iraqi political party. It follows ayatollah Muhammad Ya`qubi a student of Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr and thus represent a branch of the Sadrist Movement, however the party is not affiliated with Muqtada al-Sadr and is in fact a rival to his branch of the Sadrists...
- Ammar Tuma
- Hassan al-Shammari
- independent
- Qasim Dawud
- unknown
- Najiha Abd al-Amir
- Jabir Habib Jabir
- SCIRI
- Kurdistani Alliance (KurdishKurdish peopleThe Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
): 5- Fu'ad Ma'sum
- Sa'd al-Barzanji
- Feryad Rawandazi
- Abdallah Salih
- Ahmad Anwar Muhammad
- Iraqi Accord FrontIraqi Accord FrontThe Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni-Islamist political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Party to contest the December 2005 general election...
(Sunni ArabArabArab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
): 4- Iyad al-Samarra'i
- Hussein al-Falluji
- Salim al-Jabburi
- Izz al-Din al-Dawlah
- Iraqi National ListIraqi National ListThe Iraqi National List is a coalition of Iraqi political parties who ran in the December 2005 Iraqi elections and got 8.0% of the vote and 25 out of 275 seats...
(secular): 2- Aliya Nassif Osairan
- Hamid Majid Musa
- Iraqi National Dialogue Front: 1
- Muhammad Ali Tamim
In addition the representatives of the Turkmen
Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmen are an ethnic group who mainly reside in northern Iraq. Estimates of their numbers vary dramatically, in accordance with Iraq's assimilation policies no realistic and independent census results have been revealed regarding the Iraqi Turkmen population...
, Sabeans and Yazidi
Yazidi
The Yazidi are members of a Kurdish religion with ancient Indo-Iranian roots. They are primarily a Kurdish-speaking people living in the Mosul region of northern Iraq, with additional communities in Transcaucasia, Armenia, Turkey, and Syria in decline since the 1990s – their members emigrating to...
s were invited to nominate a member each to join the committee
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:- The ability of constitutional changes to be vetoed by three out of the 18 governorates
- Iraq's Arab identity
- The shape of the federal system
- The status of KirkukKirkukKirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
- The split of oil revenues between national and regional governments
- The role of IslamIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
- 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 IraqHowever, SCIRI
Sciri
Sciri may refer to:*Scirii, people*SCIRI, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq...
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
Governorates of Iraq
||Iraq is composed of 18 provinces :#Baghdād #Salāh ad-Dīn #Diyālā #Wāsit #Maysān #Al-Basrah #Dhī Qār #Al-Muthannā #Al-Qādisiyyah...
. On March 16 Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Sayyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was an Iraqi theologian and politician and the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party that enjoys approximately 5% support in the Iraqi Council of Representatives....
, the leader of SCIRI
Sciri
Sciri may refer to:*Scirii, people*SCIRI, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq...
proposed a compromise whereby two Regions are created - one in the far South near Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
and one for the middle Euphrates region. The Islamic Virtue Party
Islamic Virtue Party
Islamic Virtue Party is an Iraqi political party. It follows ayatollah Muhammad Ya`qubi a student of Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr and thus represent a branch of the Sadrist Movement, however the party is not affiliated with Muqtada al-Sadr and is in fact a rival to his branch of the Sadrists...
governor of Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
has expressed support for a Region covering Basrah and its only its two neighbouring governorates of Maysan and Dhiqar. The Sadrist Movement
Sadrist Movement
The Sadrist Movement is an Iraqi Islamist national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement draws wide support from across Iraqi society and especially from the Shi'a poor in the country. The most important person in setting the goals and the philosophy of the movement was Grand Ayatollah...
supports a stronger central government, saying that federalism should not be applied to the south "while Iraq is still under occupation".
The National Dialogue Front has asked that the de-Baathification provisions be reworded to "be fair to those that have suffered under this article".
Iraq Study Group
The Iraq Study GroupIraq Study Group
The Iraq Study group , was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and making policy recommendations...
of senior American politicians recommended that the constitution be amended as follows:
- Oil revenue should accrue wholly to the central government and not split with the regions
- The referendum on KirkukKirkukKirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
joining the Iraqi KurdistanIraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
region should be delayed
Kurdistani Alliance
The Kurdistani Alliance submitted a working paper in April 2007 with the following proposed changes:- Iraq to be renamed the "Federal Republic of Iraq"
- Iraqi KurdistanIraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
to have its own representative at the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Iraqi Accord Front
The Iraqi Accord Front was reported in July 2007 of seeking the following changes:- Whilst now accepting the establishment of new Regions of Iraq, it wants the powers of these to be limited
- Deleting references to the religious HawzaHawzaHawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary of traditional Islamic school of higher learning. It is a term used mostly by the Shi'a Muslims communities to refer to a traditional Shi'a centre where clerics are trained...
of NajafNajafNajaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate... - Remove the de-Baathification clauses
- Bringing existing as well as future crude oil fields into the law on oil
- Postponing the Kirkuk status referendum