Monday, May 23, 2005

New Sabah (Arabic) reported that the "constitution writing committee" will be modified to include more members, particularly 20 extra seats (instead of 14 as suggested earlier) will be allocated for Sunni personalities. Also the new entity will carry a new name that is:
"The Dialogue Board for Writing the Constitution"

Sources from inside the National Assembly told New Sabah that there are negotiations underway with Sunni Arab political and religious entities to reach an agreement on 20 socially and politically acceptable Sunni personalities to occupy the 20 new seats.
The same sources confirmed that there are efforts to persuade ex-PM Allawi to take back his resignation from his place in the committee and that progress has been made in dealing with the reasons that lead to Allawi's resignation.


The Kurdish and Coalition blocks haven't decided yet who's going to be the chairman of the committee; the Kurdish block nominated Dr. Fouad Ma'soum (who was chairman of the interim 100 member parliament until the elections of Jan 30) for this position while the Colaition block nominated three of its members for the same position.
Dr. Ma'soum said that both blocks are seeking to win this post.

More updates to follow when available.

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