Iraq's Sunni Arab leaders agreed on Saturday to defeat the draft constitution in the Oct. 15 referendum by all possible means.

"Our decision is to oppose the draft constitution by all possible peaceful means, including voting "No" and boycotting the referendum," said Saleh al-Mutlaq, spokesman for the Iraqi National Dialogue, a leading Sunni Arab group.

About 100 Sunni Arab leaders representing different religious and political groups have gathered in Um al-Qura mosque in western Baghdad to decide whether to boycott the Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution.

Some influential Sunni parties, such as People of Iraq, an umbrella group headed by Adnan al-Dulaimi, and the leading Iraqi Islamic Party, favored participation in the referendum and vote " No" to the draft, but some other groups inclined to boycott it.

"We have some options including participation in the referendum and say no, and try hard to press on the electoral commission to be fair as much as possible," Mutlaq told Xinhua, referring to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.

"We are very sure that if there is a limited scale of forgery, the result would be on our side as Iraqis would vote No to this draft," he added.

The interim constitution said if two thirds of the voters in any three Iraqi provinces say no to the referendum, the constitution will be vetoed, and the parliament will be dissolved.

Sunni Arabs, about 20 percent of the Iraqi population, used to enjoy privilege under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, but are now sidelined after a Shiite-and-Kurdish-led government was sworn in late April.

Source: Xinhua