Debate Begins on Structure of Transitional Government | LA Times

[Ediacara]

8:57 PM PST, January 30, 2004

Debate Begins on Structure of Transitional Government

By Alissa J. Rubin

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi leaders are to begin debate Saturday on a newly crafted proposal for a transitional government that would fuse European and American styles of democracy, with executive, legislative and judicial branches underpinned by a bill of rights.The draft law calls for a tripartite presidency, which could help balance power between the three dominant religious and ethnic groups. It is likely to be made up of members of those groups -- Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

The proposal would also require that women hold at least 40 percent of the seats in the transitional national assembly and in a constitutional convention, an effort to ensure women's rights in a nation that has vocal fundamentalist Muslim strains.

The document does not call for the strict version of Sharia religious law in place in countries such as Saudi Arabia, but rather says that the broad sweep of Islam -- encompassing a vast landscape of thought and legal concepts -- should be the principal source for legislation.

More at the Los Angeles Times