Sunni Arab leaders met at a mosque in Baghdad today to decide whether to call for a boycott of an October 15th referendum on a new constitution, a move that could undermine the legitimacy of the vote.
Members of several influential Sunni Arab groups, including the Muslim Clerics' Association and the Iraqi National Dialogue, gathered at Baghdad's Um al-Kura mosque for a conference that they said could go on for a day or more.
"We will decide whether to participate in the referendum or not," Abdul Salaam al-Qubaisi, a senior official in the Muslim Clerics' Association, a gathering of Sunni religious figures, told reporters.
"We are opposed to the constitution anyway. But now we will decide even whether we will turn up to vote." More than 100 delegates gathered for the discussion, which could determine how the outcome of the referendum, crucial to Iraq's political process, is regarded.
Around 15 million Iraqis are registered for the referendum, when they will vote "Yes" or "No" to a constitution drafted principally by members of the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government, with many articles tailor-made to their demands.
If Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population, boycott the vote, the referendum will pass but may be seen as lacking credibility. A Sunni Arab "No" vote would still probably not defeat the charter, but their participation would at least give the process more legitimacy, political analysts say.
The referendum will pass if more than half the voters say "Yes" and as long as two thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces do not say "No".