BAGHDAD, Oct 5: Iraq’s parliament on Wednesday bowed to UN and US pressure by reversing changes to the rules of next week’s referendum that critics deemed were unfair to opponents of the divisive new constitution.

The move came as thousands of US troops widened a sweep for Al Qaeda fighters near the Syrian border to shore up security and a top US general warned of intensified attacks in the run-up to the crucial Oct 15 vote.

The dramatic last minute U-turn by parliament came after MPs drew sharp criticism from the United States, the United Nations and the increasingly alienated Sunni community by changing voting rules on Sunday.

The constitution will now be approved if a simple majority of all those who turn out to vote say ‘yes’ and if two-thirds of voters in at least three provinces do not say ‘no’. The move was approved by 119 of the 147 MPs present.

Sunday’s change had said two-thirds of ‘registered voters’ would be required in three provinces to block the charter, but the new decision has changed this back to read just ‘voters’.

Sunnis and the United Nations had expressed unease at the weekend decision, as the passages on approval from a simple nationwide majority still referred to ‘voters’ — lessening the hopes of Sunni factions of voting down the charter.

“It is a good decision because the changes were not correct. Unfortunately the deputies sent the wrong message to the electorate by trying to cheat on the text,” said Salah Motlak of the National Dialogue Party, a Sunni group.

“You cannot have two different meanings in one article. It’s using interpretation to your own benefit,” a representative of the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq had said of the changes to voting rules.

And US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said parliament should stick to the spirit and the letter of the original article.

The vote on the constitution is a key stage in the country’s political transition and comes before planned elections in December.

It is being held just four days before Saddam Hussein and seven of his former lieutenants are due to go on trial. They face the death penalty if convicted.

The charter has caused deep divisions between Sunnis and Shias and their Kurdish allies who now dominate parliament.

Al Qaeda’s Iraq branch, headed by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, urged Sunnis to boycott the referendum, saying calls by Sunni groups for a ‘no’ vote were meaningless.

VIOLENCE MOUNTING: There were mounting signs that violence could shadow the vote.

The US general commanding troops in Baghdad, William Webster, warned that guerillas would increase their attacks in Baghdad before the referendum in a bid to discredit both the government and the political process.

“We believe that the insurgents will try to make a surge in their attacks inside Baghdad because of its value in trying to convince the people that this government cannot protect them and also in terms of trying to make the results of the election illegitimate,” he said. —AFP