BAGHDAD, 29 February 2004 — Iraq’s US-picked leaders failed to meet a Saturday deadline to agree on an interim constitution, a sign of the deep divisions over how to distribute power among the country’s ethnic and religious factions and to balance Islam and secularism.

The top US administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, met with members of the Governing Council in an attempt to overcome the differences.

At issue are efforts by conservatives to enshrine Islam as the main source of law in Iraq, Kurdish demands for their self-rule federal region and Shiite attempts to dominate the new government’s presidency.

Several council members said they believed an agreement in principle on these issues was possible today, but that it would then take several days to work out the wording. The handover of power from the US-led occupation to the Iraqis, set for June 30, would not be thrown off by a delay of a few days in the constitution. But the delay is just the latest disruption to US plans for the transfer.

Shiite leaders and members of the council have rejected the US formula for picking the government due to start ruling in July, but no one has been able to agree on an alternative — likely requiring the United Nations to step in to help.

The council — hand-picked by the United States to reflect the diversity of Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups — has been ensnared in those groups’ mutual mistrusts and clashing ambitions, despite months of debate on many of the same central issues.

Shiites are trying to stake out the political power they feel they deserve as Iraq’s majority community, Kurds seek to solidify their autonomy and Sunni Arabs hope to maintain a voice. At the same time, secular politicians and women on the council have tried to fend off religious hard-liners.

Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Muslim Kurd on the council, said meeting the Feb. 28 deadline — set by the Americans and agreed to by the council — was less important than resolving issues now, rather than leaving them unclear. The document is to remain in effect until a permanent charter is adopted next year — but all sides are pushing to get their interests met in the interim constitution, which will likely be a basis for the permanent version.

The issue of Islam’s role has been particularly sensitive. Bremer, who must approve the final document, has hinted he would veto any text enshrining Islam as the main basis of Iraqi law. Liberal politicians see the provision as a possible first step to imposing Shariah. US officials and some on the council support making Islam only one of many sources of law.

“I think this is as far as we can go,” Othman said. “We want it to be a democratic state. We don’t want an Islamic state, we want a state that respects religion... It should be a balanced formula.”

Raja Habib Al-Khuzaai, a Shiite woman on the council who has opposed the conservatives’ phrasing, said there appeared to be “flexibility” on the issue. But she said members were still divided over a provision that would set aside 40 percent of seats in a future government for women.

In a sign of the tensions, eight of the council’s 13 Shiite members stormed out of a meeting on the constitution late Friday after a vote that canceled a resolution that would have made Islamic law the basis for issues like divorce and inheritance.

Also unresolved are Kurdish demands for self-rule powers under a federal system — including control over their region’s oil and natural resources and the right to maintain their militias as a distinct armed force.

The Kurdish demands have brought similar calls from Shiites. The Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq has demanded that all regions of the country should get whatever rights the Kurds ultimately receive.