Iraq's draft constitution has been finalized and will be sent to the United Nations to be printed, a leading lawmaker said Wednesday. "Today we accomplished the final amendments of the new constitution and the final version has been presented to the United Nations to print it and to be distributed to the Iraqi people," said Hussein al-Shahristani, deputy speaker of the National Assembly. Under an agreement with the government, the world body is supposed to print and oversee the distribution of the document ahead of the Oct. 15 referendum. Al-Shahristani said several changes had been made in the version adopted by the drafting committee and sent to parliament on Aug. 28, after several deadlines were missed. The Sunni Arab minority rejected the document that was approved by the dominant Shiite and Kurdish blocs, The Associated Press reported. Iraqis will vote on the charter in the referendum, with the outcome still not assured because of fundamental opposition from the Sunni community.
