Reuters reports that the Iraq's draft constitution is "finished" and being presented to parliament:
Forty minutes before a midnight deadline, Human Hamoudi told Reuters as he entered the chamber that he had the completed draft in his hand: "It's finished," he said.
Other delegates said there would be no further negotiations, despite last-minute demands from the Sunni Arab minority, which said it would campaign against the new text in a referendum.
"The draft will be presented within minutes," President Jalal Talabani told reporters as he entered the chamber.
In, Matthew Shugart, Professor of Political Science at University of California, San Diego, isn’t impressed with what he has heard about the draft constitution. Professor Shugart has two posts at his new blog, here and here discussing the proposed Iraqi federalism.
Thanks to Steven Taylor at PoliBlog for the tip about Professor Shugart's blog.
UPDATE: The Associated Press is reporting that the draft constitution was withdrawn:
Iraqi leaders finished their draft constitution Monday and prepared to submit it to parliament but withdrew it in the final minutes in order to give time to win over the Sunni Arab community whose support is key to ending the insurgency.
According to this AP report, Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani said that there was strong interest in reaching unanimity on the draft "so that the constitution pleases everyone:"
Afterward, he told reporters that the main outstanding issues were federalism, the formation of federal units, problems related to mentioning the Baath Party in the constitution, and the division of powers among the president, the parliament and the Cabinet.
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