BAGHDAD, August 25 (RIA Novosti, Pavel Davydov) - Iraqi politicians could agree on a draft constitution Thursday evening, the secretary of the National Dialogue Council told the Constitutional Committee.
Sunni Saleh al-Moutlak said he hoped the parties would be able to come to a mutual agreement this evening.
So far the parties have failed to overcome major disagreements. Sunnis continue to reject federalism and all provisions that threaten Iraq's integrity.
If Shiites and Kurds, who dominate the national assembly (parliament), try to pass the draft through the legislature without Sunni approval, as was the case three days ago, this will either lead to civil war or the parliament's dissolution and a restart of the constitutional process, al-Moutlak said.
If the Iraqi people were to approve such a draft, which is unlikely, it would lead to civil war, the Iraqi politician said. But if the October 15 referendum rejects the draft, the national assembly would be dissolved and the process of drafting a constitution would start again, he said.
Shiite Jawad al-Maliki of the Dawa Party was quoted by Iraqi's Al-Mashraq newspaper as saying that the Shiite and Kurdish parties had finally settled the issue of the country's federal system. If some changes are made to the draft, they will be insignificant, he said.
The deadline for the Iraqi parliament to finalize the draft constitution expires Thursday at midnight.
