The Iraqi MPs voted 119 to 28 to restore the original voting rules for the Oct. 15 referendum. (Reuters)

BAGHDAD, October 5, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iraq's parliament reversed Wednesday, October 5, a decision to change rules governing next week's referendum on a draft constitution after a scathing criticism from the United Nations.

"A resolution was passed that the word 'voters' ... was (to mean) voters who are registered in the voter lists and who exercise that right, i.e. that they vote in the referendum," deputy speaker Hussain Al-Shahristani was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The move was approved by 119 of the 147 MPs present.

The parliament, however, asserted its legal right to challenge the outcome of votes in particular regions if it felt voters had been intimidated.

The parliament deputy speaker, Hussein Shahristani, said he was particularly concerned about voting in mixed Sunni and Shiite areas where "insurgents" had threatened violence against people voting in the referendum.

The Iraqi parliament voted on Sunday, October 2, to define the rules for the October 15 referendum, saying that that two-thirds majority needed in three provinces to defeat the constitution would be counted from all registered voters, rather than actual voters.

But the changes drew rebukes from the United Nations, which stressed that a referendum held under the new rules would not meet international standards.

Iraqi Sunnis also reacted angrily to the new changes, stressing that the amendments were "brazen forgery" to make it simpler for the draft constitution to pass than for it to be defeated in the October 15 referendum.

According to Article 61C of the Transitional Administrative Law, "The general referendum will be successful and the draft constitution ratified if a majority of the voters in Iraq approve and if two-thirds of the voters in three or more governorates do not reject it."

Sunni Arabs form a majority in Al-Anbar, Nineveh and Salahudin provinces.

Sunni Welcome

Iraq 's Sunnis welcomed the parliament's U-turn on rules governing the Oct. 15 referendum.

"The parliamentary U-turn is a good decision because the changes were not correct," said Salah Motlak of the Sunni National Dialogue Party.

"Unfortunately the deputies sent the wrong message to the electorate by trying to cheat on the text," he was quoted as saying by Agence France Presse (AFP).

Sunni MP, Said Al-Zubaidi, echoed a similar stance.

"What happened on Sunday was a big mistake. It was an act of foolishness against democracy," he said, according to Reuters.

"What happened today is only natural," he stressed.

"But no one asked us about it. If it had not been for the United Nations, nothing would have changed."

Numerous Sunni Arab political and religious leaders have already called for a "no" vote to the constitution basically because they believe that its federalist provisions will divide the country.

Sunnis further charge that the latest onslaughts by US-backed Iraqi troops on Sunni towns and cities under the pretext of fighting "insurgency" are aimed at blocking Sunni registration to vote in mid October.

US Marines launched Tuesday, October 4, their biggest offensive so far this year against "insurgents" in western Iraq .