BAGHDAD - Iraq’s dominant Shia alliance submitted on Wednesday a draft of a new law to govern the division of the country into autonomous regions. The United Iraqi Alliance, the dominant Shia parliamentary bloc, is promoting a “law of regional formation” so that the oil-rich Shia southern Iraq can win self-rule on the model of the autonomous Kurdish north. “The law will define how the regions are formed and whether it will be done by the governing council or through popular referendum,” said party member Hamid Mualla al-Saadi.Sunni lawmakers have vociferously opposed the draft law on autonomous regions, saying it is a prelude to the division of the country, which would leave them with just the resource-poor center and west of Iraq. But in recent days they appear to have softened their opposition, saying they would support the “administrative application of federalism” as long as a strong central government remains.