Yes….Yes To The Iraqi Constitution

Publication date: 2005, Baghdad- Iraq

Author: Dr. Hamid Al-Bayati

The Constitution was the dream for all Iraqis; The Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) during the transitional period, which was considered as the provisional constitution since the toppling of Saddam’s regime, stated that it is necessary to finish writing the permanent constitution of Iraq through the elected National Assembly before the mid of August 2005.
 
 The law stated as well that the draft constitution should be ratified by the Iraqi people in a public referendum in mid-October 2005.
 
 The law stated that one-third of the population of any three provinces has the right to object on the draft constition, which makes it necessary to get the agreement of the vast majority of the Iraqi people to approve the constitution.
 
 When the Iraqi people approve the permanent constitution, general elections should be held as a result to choose a new National Assembly in December 2005. Then a new government will be formed according to the new constitution. 
 
The different Iraqi groups had many points they wanted to see in their new constitution such as: - The respect for religions and beliefs of all the Iraqi people.- Guarantee democracy and political pluralism. - Freedom of forming political parties, unions, and organization.- The freedom of expression- The freedom of any individual, and respect for all his/her rights.- The freedom of media and TV stations.- Federalism and decentralization on the level of regions and provinces.- Guarantee women’s rights.- Equal distribution of resources among the Iraqi people in North, South and the Center.
 
There were also disagreements about some points in the constitution such as: The name of the Republic of Iraq, the kind of Federalism, the role of the religion and women’s rights.
          
Dr. Hamid Al-Bayati tried in this book to review different points of view regarding the draft constitution so the readers can understand and judge things on their own.  
 
 The objective of the book which was published and distributed in Iraq before the referendum of the constitution in October 15, 2005 was to explain to the Iraqi people the importance of ratifying the permanent constitution to continue the political process. The approval of the constitution was followed by the elections of December 15, 2005 for a full term Parliament which elected a full term government. It was the prelude for a democratically elected government for the first time in Iraq.