Iraqi Leaders Agree on Draft of an Interim Constitution

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Governing Council reached agreement early today on an interim constitution that would provide a legal basis for running the country once sovereignty is restored this summer, aides to several council members said.

The agreement was reached after 4 a.m. Baghdad time following an all-night negotiating session, several people familiar with the process said, but final approval is not expected until Wednesday.

According to the aides, the document represents a compromise on what had been the main points of controversy: the role of Islam in Iraqi society, whether Kurds in northern Iraq will retain a measure of self-rule and what part women will play in Iraq’s future.

In the final document, Islam will be recognized as an important source of future legislation, but not the sole source, said an aide to council member Adnan Pachachi.

The role of Islam had been an incendiary issue, with conservatives in the Shiite Muslim community pushing for enshrining some version of Sharia, or Islamic law, governing matters such as divorce and inheritance. Most Shiite council members walked out of negotiations last week when a proposal to adopt aspects of Sharia was rejected.

Kurdish leaders also agreed to be part of a federal structure with a central government in Baghdad, aides said, but they will retain some measure of self-rule. The document was not expected to address the future of the oil-rich, multiethnic northern city of Kirkuk, which is subject to competing claims from Kurds, Arabs and ethnic Turks.

The document also recognizes the rights of women and reserves 25% of the seats in a future national assembly for them, said Kamil Amin, an aide to Nasir Chaderchi, a moderate with the National Democratic Party.

A senior coalition official said today that the document set out a multiperson presidency, with a prime minister who is to lead a Cabinet. It also addresses such matters as the separation of powers and includes a bill of rights that the coalition official said was “quite clear on protecting all individual rights that we in the West take for granted,” including speech, assembly and religion.

“This is a unique moment for Iraq, a unique moment for the Middle East, and a unique moment for all those naysayers who say this can’t work,” the official said.

In the end, the agreement appeared to hew to the moderate path encouraged by U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer III. Bremer must approve the document and had hinted he would veto any version that imposed a rigid version of Sharia on Iraq’s diverse population.

A new, permanent constitution is to be put in place once elections are held.

No definite timetable for elections has been agreed upon, although the draft constitution says elections should be held “if possible” by the end of 2004 and no later than Jan. 31, 2005.

In other news, officials announced Sunday that a homemade bomb killed an Estonian soldier Saturday in Baghdad. Sgt. Andres Nuiamae, 21, was the first Estonian soldier killed by hostile fire since the Baltic country gained independence in 1991 after the Soviet Union’s collapse.

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Times researcher Salar Jaff in Baghdad contributed to this report.