Iraqi lawmakers on Monday night voted in favor to amend the interim law for a new Aug. 22 deadline to finalize the country's constitution in Baghdad.

The lawmakers unanimously approved the amendment with a show of hands and agreed to amend the country's interim law for a new Aug.22 deadline to finalize the constitution.

The approval came after parliament speaker Hajim al-Hasani proposed the one week extension for constitution deadline. "We weren't able despite all efforts to reach solutions that would satisfy everyone," al-Hasani told the lawmakers.

"The national assembly should draft the permanent constitution within a period ending by Aug. 22," he suggested, while reading the proposed amendment to the interim law.

Afterwards, the parliament approved his proposal with just 20 minutes left before the midnight deadline on Monday. The fresh deadline is seemed to be accepted by Washington, though it has exerted big pressure to Iraqi politicians to meet the Aug. 15 deadline.

US ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad has recognized that Iraq's draft constitution was not ready in time for Monday's deadline and have had to extend the time limit by another week. "There have been substantial agreements, but they need a week to finalise it," he told AFP.

The constitution draft was scheduled to be finished before the Aug. 15 deadline, but the draft committee members failed to do so because no agreements were made upon issues such as federalism and the role of Islam.

Just before the parliament's voting for the deadline extension, members of Iraqi committee drafting the constitution had proposed a 10-day extension to the Aug. 15 deadline.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2005)