JURIST - Paper Chase: BREAKING NEWS ~ Iraq parliament approves compromise deal on constitution

[JURIST] AP is reporting that Iraq's parliament speaker has said that the National Assembly has approved a compromise deal on the Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive]. Under the deal [JURIST report], a commission will be established to consider future amendments to the charter, which would then be voted on by the National Assembly and thereafter submitted to the public in another referendum. The parliament convened a special session Wednesday to consider the last-minute compromise, though an actual vote was not taken on the measure. Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani told the media that the with the presence of 157 of 275 members, the deal "is considered to be adopted." The compromise deal is aimed at discouraging Sunni Arabs from voting against the charter in this weekend's referendum [IECI backgrounder, PDF]. Under Iraq's current electoral law, a majority vote is necessary for the constitution's adoption, unless two-thirds of the citizens in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "no." AP has more.

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