Ramadan bomber kills 26 at Shi'ite mosque in Iraq
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-06 09:00

U.S. APPROVAL

The United Nations, which made a veiled threat to withhold its approval of the vote, and the White House, which said U.S. officials had hoped to change minds in Baghdad, welcomed the U- turn. Sunni politicians said it was positive, but quickly found other grounds for renewing their threat of a boycott.

The Shi'ite majority in the National Assembly insisted it acted by itself and not under pressure from the U.N.'s veiled warnings. It also said it might challenge results if voters appeared to be scared off by insurgents opposed to the process.

"They have reversed their decision as we had hoped they would," said U.N. spokesman Said Arikat in Baghdad.

Iraqi policemen secure the site where a car bomb exploded in central Baghdad. [AFP]

Targets for approval or rejection of the constitution now both refer to votes cast. Sunday's ruling cited the proportion of registered voters in the case of rejection. The constitution will now take effect if half the votes cast are in favor but fail if two thirds in three of 18 regions are cast against it.

Washington, anxious to defuse revolt among Sunni Arabs and bring the once dominant minority into the political system set up after the U.S. invasion, was also dismayed when parliament, in the words of one U.N. official, had "moved the goalposts."

BOYCOTT THREAT

However, after parliament's reversal, Sunni politicians Saleh al-Mutlak and Hussein al-Falluji told Reuters their colleagues would meet soon and might call for another voting boycott if U.S. forces did not halt major operations in western Iraq.

"If U.S. forces keep attacking Sunni cities, then in three or four days' time we will announce a boycott of the referendum," said Mutlak, of the National Dialogue Council.

The Americans are targeting al Qaeda guerrillas in Qaim, Haditha and other Sunni towns. Some local people complain that civilians are also suffering in U.S. bombing.

The U.S. military said six al Qaeda fighters had been killed around Haditha since Operation River Gate began on Tuesday. The offensive appeared to have been considerably scaled back. Of 2,500 troops involved at first, 350 were in action on Wednesday.

U.S. and Iraqi government officials have complained that Sunni politicians are irresponsible in exploiting the threat of boycotts, and the loss of legitimacy for elections they entail.

Hussain al-Shahristani, the Shi'ite deputy speaker, insisted that parliament had acted on its own initiative.

"We asked the U.N. to inform us of what are international standards," Shahristani told reporters, adding that Wednesday's resolution also contained three further conditions.

The government, he said, agreed to increase security at polling stations in violent areas and keep them there after the referendum to prevent reprisals against voters; to weed out election officials who might pass information on voters to the insurgents; and to note parliament's right to challenge in the courts regional ballots where voters seemed to be intimidated.

Shahristani said he was less concerned about the three Sunni provinces where a two-thirds "No" vote is seen as possible despite widespread violence than about mixed provinces such as Diyala, northeast of Baghdad. Al Qaeda militants there have threatened to kill anyone turning out to vote in the referendum.