BAGHDAD, Iraq — Shiite and Kurdish politicians beat a midnight deadline yesterday and submitted a draft constitution to Iraq's National Assembly, but legislators postponed voting on the document for three days in a final bid to gain the support of skeptical Sunni Arab leaders.

After months of negotiations and a one-week extension, legislators had been expected to either approve a draft constitution by yesterday, officially endorse another delay or scrap the whole process and start over with new elections. Instead, visibly tired politicians muddled through to a half-resolution, presenting a document that left key issues unsettled.

People who have viewed the document said it includes vague language weakening Iraq's strong central government, enshrining a federalist system in which regions could split off, and addressing how oil revenue is to be split among Baghdad and the provinces.

The text calls for liberties such as freedom of expression and the press. It gives Islam a role in national affairs, while offering Iraqis the option of following civil code in areas such as marriage, divorce and inheritance.

But the drafting committee left it up to the National Assembly to sort out issues including specifics on regional rights, the language of the preamble, the removal of Saddam Hussein's former Baath party members from government and the exact role of the presidency, officials said.

Draft "full of mines"

"We want a good, solid constitution," said Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister and a Kurd. "We don't want to force a deal on any group that they're uncomfortable with."

Sunni Arab members of the drafting committee quickly rejected the Shiite-Kurd text, loudly denounced the process and threatened to work against the document if the assembly endorses the current version and submits it to the public in an October referendum.

"This constitution is full of mines that are going to explode," said Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of 15 Sunnis on the charter panel. "The articles stipulated in this constitution will have grave consequences if they are submitted to a referendum. This constitution will lead to a weak Iraq that is unable to defend itself."

Among other groups, though, news of the presentation of the draft was met with elation. State-controlled Al-Iraqiya television broadcast raucous scenes of celebration on the streets of Najaf, the Shiite shrine city that is the political and spiritual backbone of the Shiite-dominated government in the capital.

Dancing in streets

Men danced in the streets while waving Kalashnikovs and Iraqi flags. Cars and trucks packed with jubilant passengers honked their horns and slowed traffic as men served sweets to revelers on the banks of the Euphrates River.

"We are so pleased by the issuing of the constitution, and we pray that God takes the hands of our respectable leaders," a man in a traditional Arabic gown told a TV reporter.

U.S. Embassy officials, heavily involved in pressing all sides to quickly come up with a deal palatable to Iraq's disparate groups, huddled with Iraqi leaders until the final moments. Bush administration officials reacted to the fast-moving developments in Baghdad much as they did to last week's delay: They praised Iraqi delegates for their courage and their efforts and described the move as a sign of progress.

Shortly after the three-day delay was announced, the White House issued a statement welcoming the draft constitution's presentation to the assembly as "another step forward in Iraq's constitutional process."

With Shiite Muslim and Kurdish politicians dominating the National Assembly, some of their constituents have been urging them to approve a constitution without backing from Sunni Arabs. But Iraqi and U.S. politicians have sought for months to include Sunnis in the process, arguing that doing so could help stanch the Sunni-led insurgency.

Shiite and Kurdish officials said the constitution was more than 90 percent finished — something they have been saying for weeks. The draft constitution has elements sure to rankle and delight all Iraqis, said Barham Salih, planning minister and one of the chief constitutional negotiators.

"I cannot say that any group will be entirely excited with this constitution," said Salih, a Kurdish leader.

On the divisive issue of women's rights in matters of marriage, divorce and inheritance, the constitution would allow Iraqis to choose to have the matters heard in religious courts run by clerics or in federal courts run by judges.

On the role of religion in legislation, the draft constitution calls Islam "a main source" of legislation instead of "the main source," as many conservative Shiites had demanded. But it would allow clerics to serve on the Supreme Court.

Politicians said a formula for distributing oil revenues had been worked out, though they disclosed few details.

Other developments

Oil shutdown: Saboteurs triggered a cascade of blackouts that halted Iraq's entire oil-export capacity for most of yesterday, a move that cost the country almost $60 million in lost exports and rattled already jittery world markets. Government officials blamed the outage on insurgent attacks that toppled key power pylons in central Iraq and darkened broad swaths of the country, including its two largest cities — Baghdad and Basra. By late yesterday, tankers were being loaded at less than a third of normal capacity with the help of backup generators.

Captives freed: Eleven Pakistani workers who were kidnapped in Iraq earlier this month have been freed, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday. The men, who worked for a Kuwaiti company, were kidnapped near the southern city of Nasiriyah on Aug. 13 as they were traveling to Baghdad from Kuwait by bus, said the spokesman, Mohammed Naeem Khan.

Basra flight: The first international flight to land in Basra in 15 years arrived here yesterday, receiving a warm welcome from local officials. A Sharjah-based Phoenix Air Boeing 747 arrived from Dubai with 22 passengers on board. Officials said the company will begin two flights a week between Dubai and Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

Los Angeles Times reporters Tyler Marshall and Noam N. Levey contributed to this report.