Sunni cabinet member expects "no" on Iraq constitution

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2005

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AFP) — An Iraqi Sunni cabinet minister said he expected the nation to reject the constitution in Saturday's referendum, saying the draft did not meet the needs of the entire country.

"It does not meet the interests of all Iraqis," Industry Minister Osama Abdul Aziz al-Najafi said during a visit to Malaysia. "We need something to be amended. The majority of the Iraqis don't accept it."

Sunnis, who comprise about 20 percent of Iraq's 26 million population, fear that federal provisions in the draft could lead to the break-up of Iraq and leave control of its vast oil wealth in the hands of Shiites and Kurds.

Iraqi lawmakers had endorsed last-minute changes to the draft charter in a bid to ease bitter ethnic divisions ahead of the...