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BAGHDAD, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's Sunni Arab leaders agreed on Saturday to defeat the draft constitution in the Oct. 15 referendum by all possible means.
"Our decision is to oppose the draft
constitution by all possible peaceful means, including voting "No" and
boycotting the referendum," said Saleh al-Mutlaq, spokesman for the Iraqi
National Dialogue, a leading Sunni Arab group.
About 100 Sunni Arab leaders representing
different religious and political groups have gathered in Um al-Qura mosque in
western Baghdad to decide whether to boycott the Oct. 15 referendum on anew
constitution.
Some influential Sunni parties, such as People
of Iraq, an umbrella group headed by Adnan al-Dulaimi, and the leading Iraqi
Islamic Party, favored participation in the referendum and vote "No" to the
draft, but some other groups inclined to boycott it.
"We have some options including participation
in the referendum and say no, and try hard to press on the electoral commission
to be fair as much as possible," Mutlaq told Xinhua, referring to the
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.
"We are very sure that if there is a limited
scale of forgery, the result would be on our side as Iraqis would vote No to
this draft," he added.
The interim constitution said if two thirds of
the voters in any three Iraqi provinces say no to the referendum, the
constitution will be vetoed, and the parliament will be dissolved.
Sunni Arabs, about 20 percent of the Iraqi
population, used to enjoy privilege under the former regime of Saddam Hussein,
but are now sidelined after a Shiite-and-Kurdish-led government was sworn in
late April. Enditem |