According to a report in the New York Times, on Sunday, during an unannounced vote in the Iraqi Parliament Shiite and Kurdish leaders voted to
change the rules governing what threshold gets the new constitution approved.
The old rule: If 2/3 of the people in at least 3 of Iraq's provinces VOTE "No", the constitution does not pass.
The new rule: Not only do 2/3 of the people who vote need to say "no", 2/3 of those who are REGISTERED must cast "no" votes.
In January, fewer than 60% of those registered showed up to vote.
More.
As the article notes (and forgive me for the lack of box quote know-how):
"Some Sunni leaders who have been organizing a campaign to vote down the proposed constitution said they might now boycott the referendum on Oct. 15. Other political leaders also reacted angrily, saying the change would seriously damage the vote's credibility."
"The rule change could prove a serious embarrassment to American officials in Iraq, who have spent recent weeks struggling to persuade Sunni Arabs to vote for the constitution and even trying to broker last-minute changes that would make it more palatable to them."
Despite the fact that this seems rather un-democratic, it also strikes me as intentionally provocative. If the Sunni's boycott the election won't Iraq be insured so much more death and destruction?