WASHINGTON — The Iraqi Electoral Commission will not allow Iraqi expatriates to vote on a new constitution, effectively locking out a quarter-million votes from mostly religious minorities living in the United States, Britain and other countries.

The decision, revealed by commission member Fareed Ayar in a telephone interview Tuesday, will alienate the Christian minorities, who make up most Iraqi exiles.

"You're changing the entire demographics of the country. If we don't vote, then we'll all be forced to leave there," said Nahrain Kamber, a ChaldoAssyrian in Palo Alto, Calif. , who cast her ballot from the United States in historic January elections for a national assembly.

"Given the history of what's been going on with the Christian minorities ... it looks like Iraq will be an Islamic state, as scary as that is."

Of 3.5 million Iraqi Christians, more than half are expatriates, with concentrations in the U.S. and Syria.

The current draft of the constitution says ChaldoAssyrian Christians would be subject to Shariah law, a strict form of Islam.