BAGHDAD, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's parliament received a draft constitution on Monday, minutes before a midnight deadline, but there was no vote and the parliamentary speaker said they would work for three days to resolve some outstanding issues.

    "A few issues remain to be settled and will be dealt with within three days," Parliament Speaker Hajim al-Hassani told the lawmakers.

    He said it was very important to reach unanimity "so that the constitution pleases everyone."

    "But after that, every party in the parliament can express its own position upon the issues," he added, referring to a possible vote by parliament members.

    Following a very short parliament session, Hassani told reporters that the main outstanding issues were federalism, control of oil revenues, problems related to mentioning the Baath Party in the constitution and the division of powers between the president, parliament and cabinet.

    Sunni Arabs issued a statement soon after the session, saying they rejected the draft constitution because Shiites and Kurds violated the principle of consensus.

    "We reject the draft constitution that was submitted because we did not have an accord on it," said Sunni delegate Nasser al-Janabi.

    A source close to Sunni leaders also told Xinhua early Tuesday that they considered it "totally unacceptable."

    Sunni Arabs in Iraq had threatened that if the draft was forced through the parliament without an accord, they would try their best to call on people to veto it in a scheduled referendum.

    It is still unclear what kind of compromise could be made in the coming days.

    US Ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad hailed the draft in a CNN interview as "very enlightened" and "a huge step forward" while admitting the charter was still stuck on issues like federalism and justice for members of toppled leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

    The draft constitution, considered a key step in Iraq's political process, had missed the Aug. 15 deadline due to differences over much the same issues.

    Sunni Arabs, who are relatively marginalized after the topple of Saddam Hussein's regime, failed to reach compromise with Shiites and Kurds over the final wording of the draft constitution.

    If the charter is approved by parliament in the coming days, it will be put to a referendum in mid October. If approved by the referendum, new elections will be held by the end of the year to form a new parliament.

    However, if two thirds of voters in any three Iraqi provinces say no to the referendum, the constitution will be vetoed, then the parliament will be dissolved, which could be a political disaster for the war-torn country. Enditem