Sunni decry dirty tricks in passing controversial federalism law

Iraq's major oil reserves are primarily located in Shi'ite and Kurdish areas.

BAGHDAD, Iraq Sunni politicians accused Shiite lawmakers Thursday of using dirty tricks to push through a new law on federalism, a landmark measure that will transform Iraq by allowing Shiites to form a self-rule mini-state in the south.

The dispute reflects the deep controversy over federalism, which top leaders of Iraq's majority Shiites support but which Sunnis deeply oppose, fearing it will tear the country to pieces and further fuel sectarian violence.

The passage of the bill has deepened feelings among some Sunni Arabs that their voices are being ignored in the political process, where Shiite parties dominate the government and parliament.

The vote on the law Wednesday was marred by a boycott by the Sunni bloc of lawmakers, along with several Shiite parties, who also reject some specifics of the bill.

The boycott delayed the vote for several hours as supporters tried to convince the boycotters to attend and scrambled to make quorum — 138 of the 275 lawmakers. The session was closed to the public, and after repeated counts it was announced that 140 lawmakers were in attendance. The measure was passed unanimously by a show of hands, with no count of the vote.

One of the main Sunni parties, however, accused the Shiites of fudging the numbers, saying quorum had not been reached.

"The session was confused and turbulent. They claimed they met the quorum but they did not. There were no more than 126 lawmakers," said Mohammed al-Daimi, spokesman for the National Dialogue Council.

"We will raise an appeal against the process and seek an investigation into the vote," al-Daimi said.

The federalism law sets up a system allowing provinces to join together into autonomous regions that would hold considerable self-rule powers, a right given to them under the constitution adopted last year in a national referendum — despite opposition to the charter among the vast majority of Sunnis.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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