Constitutional Change Mechanism Agreed

On September 25, speaker Mahmud al-Mashhadani told parliament that four blocs had reached agreement on setting up a committee to draft constitutional amendments. The 27 members will be drawn from the United Iraqi Alliance, the Kurdistan Alliance, the Iraqi bloc and the Iraqi Accord Front. The Sunni National Dialogue front rejected the plan and walked out of the meeting where the blocs discussed the issue, and also left the parliamentary session. Parliament also reached an agreement on the issue of federal regions, which should come into effect 18 months after it is formally approved, under the terms of Article 118 of the Iraqi constitution.