Iraq counts vote after landmark referendum
Foreign Desk Report
BAGHDAD—Iraqis awaited the outcome of a pivotal referendum after voting
in large numbers on a draft constitution that exposed sharp divisions
among its ethnic and religious communities. With the future of Iraq and
the presence of US troops in the country at stake, election workers
began counting ballots after Saturday’s vote went ahead without
widespread violence. Arab Shiites let off celebratory gunfire and danced
in the streets of Baghdad after the polls closed, anticipating what they
believed was certain approval of the country’s first constitution since
the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. “Our constitution has been
approved, down with the Baathists!” chanted one joyful crowd, refering
to members of Saddam’s disbanded political party.
Shiites and Kurds, who were persecuted during Saddam’s reign, were
expected to vote overwhelmingly in favor of the draft document. But
attention was focused on members of the Sunni minority, many of whom
fear domination by an alliance of Shiites and Kurds. The charter
requires a simple majority to be approved but would be rejected if a
two-thirds majority in at least three of the country’s 18 provinces vote
“no.”
Results should be known by Tuesday, chief electoral official Adil al-Lami
said. According to a preliminary estimate, more than 61 percent of
registered voters cast ballots amid tight security and mild weather. “I
think the majority will vote yes,” said President Jalal Talabani, a
Kurd, after casting his ballot inside Baghdad’s heavily-protected Green
Zone.
Saleh al-Motlaq, a Sunni spokesman for the National Council for Dialogue
who had helped draft the charter, said he himself had voted ‘no’ because
he was not satisfied with the result. “I took part in the consultation
and I voted ‘no’ to the constitution,” he told AFP. In a second national
vote since Saddam was toppled in April 2003, Iraqis were asked one
question: “Do You Approve the Draft Constitution of Iraq”?
To reach polling stations, voters had to pass through several rings of
security, often including concrete road barriers and rolls of razor
wire. Then they had were searched by police. A ban on any civilian
vehicles circulating on voting day was part of elaborate security
measures taken to prevent insurgent attacks.
Despite the precautions, including the closure of international borders,
three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a bomb blast as they inspected a
polling station northeast of the capital. Two civilians were killed near
Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, when a homemade bomb targeted US forces
who were guarding polling boxes, local police said. West of Baghdad, a
civilian was shot dead during an attack on police near a polling
station. Yet for the most part, voting was peaceful and turnout
particularly heavy in the Kurdish north and southern Shiite areas. In
the restive Al-Anbar province, however, 10 workers for the Iraqi
independent electoral commission were kidnapped by gunmen while heading
to work at the polls.
Elsewhere, sabotage on a power line cut electricity to the capital and
the main southern city of Basra, plunging both into darkness late
Friday. Baghdad remained cut off on Saturday. The United States, which
led the military campaign that toppled Saddam, called the vote an
important step that would undermine the aims of the insurgents.
“By casting their ballots, the Iraqi people deal a severe blow to the
terrorists and send a clear message to the world: Iraqis will decide the
future of their country through peaceful elections, not violent
insurgency”, President George W. Bush said in his weekly radio address.
A US State Department official, who asked not to be named, said: “Today
was clearly a bad day for terrorists”.
Approval of the draft constitution would clear the way for parliamentary
elections in December, which the Bush administration hopes will help
weaken the insurgents and allow for a gradual withdrawwal of the 140,000
US troops deployed in Iraq. Nearly 2,000 US soldiers have died in Iraq
since the war was launched and the war has become increasingly popular
among US voters.
If the charter is rejected by voters, another interim national assembly
will have to be elected in December to craft a new draft constitution,
which will then be submitted to voters in 2006. Some analysts have
warned of a possible sectarian war if the Sunni leadership rejects the
constitution and chooses to boycott the political process. |
