On the 15th of October 2005, the Iraqi people approved their Constitution with a 61% participation at the polls and 78% voting in favour. To the surprise of the Sunnite environment, in the province of Ninive the “no” votes did not reach the 2/3rds of the votes necessary which, together with the foreseen 2/3rds of “no” votes in two other Sunnite provinces, would have caused the failure of the project. In an analysis of this event, we present the two following contributions; one of a philosophical-juridical kind and the other journalistic. In the first article, the author analyses the text of the Iraqi Charter, underlining the legitimacy of this constitutional experience and sustaining the compatibility of the Islamic culture with the constitutionalism. However, a few knots to be untied come to light: the federal structure which requires a further rationalization and a syndicate of constitutionality which has not been foreseen in the text voted by the Iraqi. In the second article, the possible developments of the Iraqi transition are shown, keeping in mind the complexity of the geo-political scenario. In this sense, the incongruities within the text could prove to be seriously destabilizing. On the other hand, a Shiite constituent commented: “Well, at least, we didn’t try to shoot each other in the Constituent Assembly”. It is not so little if we consider the Constitution – and the two authors agree upon this – not as a point of arrival, but as a point of departure in the construction of a new Iraq.


Shari’a and political equilibrium the possible miracle of Bagdad by Ciro SBAILO'

The Iraqi Constitution i.e. to reconcile the opposites by Giuseppe ZACCARIA