Changes to Iraqi Constitution Voting Rules

According to the Washington Post, recent changes have been passed by Iraqi leaders making it harder for Sunni Arabs to defeat the proposed Iraqi Constitution. Click here to read the article. The article explains:

Election rules hold that the constitution will be defeated if two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote against it _ even if it wins majority approval nationwide. Sunni Arabs have a sufficient majority in four provinces.
But on Sunday, parliament passed a new interpretation of the rules declaring that two-thirds of registered voters must vote "no" _ not two-thirds of those who actually vote. The interpretation raises the bar to a level almost impossible to meet. In a province of 1 million registered voters, for example, 660,000 would have to vote "no" _ even if that many didn't even come to the polls.

I would be interested to know what others think about the rule changes and the Constitution itself. Also, many pundits have asserted that once the Constitution passes the U.S. will withdraw most of its troops. I am not sure if Iraq is ready for a U.S. withdrawel, but I would be interested in other thoughts.

--Tom Hayes


Update 10/05/05

The Iraqi Parliament has overturned its previous rule change after international and internal pressures, click here to read more.

--Tom Hayes