The document is a key step in the US plan to return power to Iraqis on June 30 and will remain in effect until a permanent constitution is drafted and ratified next year.

It will be signed by Paul Bremer, the head of the coalition, on Wednesday, after the Shia Muslim religious holiday of Ashoura ends.

Agreement was reached after two days of talks by members of the Governing Council and describes the future Iraq as a federalist state along the lines of Canada, Brazil and India, with considerable authority handed to individual regions.

The compromise also set a goal, not a quota, to have at least 25 percent of the national assembly made up of women.

Coalition officials said that the document strikes a balance between the role of Islam and the bill of individual rights and democratic principles, by calling Islam a source, but not a primary source, for the implementation of civil law.

According to an Iraqi official, the politicians put off details on some aspects of Kurdish autonomy, one of the most contentious obstacles to a democratic Iraq.

The members were unable to agree on the terms and size of the Kurdish self-rule region in the north.

Kurdish leaders had demanded the right to keep their peshmerga militia as a distinct armed force and to control oil and other resources in their region. They also sought to add districts to the autonomous area.

One Iraqi official said the Kurdish issues were not abandoned, but set aside, for now.

“Some points simply could not be done ... but (our attitude is) what you can’t have now, you will have later. That’s why we didn’t insist that it be now,” he said.

Shia Muslims, who dominate southern Iraq, insisted that if the Kurds had the right to self-rule in their northern strongholds, they should enjoy the same privilege in areas of the south.

Besides a comprehensive bill of rights, including protections for free speech, religious expression, assembly and due process, it also spells out the executive branch.

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