BAGHDAD, 23 October 2005 — Iraq released partial results yesterday of last week’s referendum on a first post-Saddam Hussein constitution but vote recounts were continuing in five provinces. So far, voters in only one province have rejected the draft charter by a potentially blocking two-thirds majority, according to the figures released by the electoral commission.
But two provinces with large Sunni Arab populations, among whom opposition to the text runs high, are among those that have yet to return their results. Under the rules for the Oct. 15 referendum, the constitution fails if it is rejected by a two-thirds majority in any three of the 18 provinces and elections to a new parliament must be held.
In Salaheddin province, location of Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, 81.5 percent of voters rejected the text. The commission said the remaining five provinces — mainly Sunni Al-Anbar and Nineveh, mainly Kurdish Arbil and mainly Shiite Basra and Babel - are expected to release their results in the next few days.
“The results from these governorates and audit reports will be presented as part of the final preliminary results scheduled for release early this week,” the commission said. “This audit is scheduled to be completed in the coming days at which point the IECI will release a complete set of provisional results.”
In Baghdad, 78 percent voted in favor of the constitution, as did 99 in the Shiite province of Muthanna and 99 percent in the Kurdish province of Sulaymanyah, while 81 percent in the Sunni province of Salaheddin voted no. In the province of Diyala, where there is a slight Sunni majority, 52 percent voted yes and 48 percent no.
The commission did not publish results for the Sunni province of Anbar where more than 90 percent are believed to have voted against the new constitution. Just over 63 percent of Iraq’s 15.5 million registered voters, or some 10 million, cast their ballots, the commission said, which is six percentage points higher than the participation rate in January’s parliamentary elections.
The commission said 31.74 percent of eligible voters voted in Anbar and 57.91 percent went to the polls in Nineveh province. Interest was focusing on Sunni-majority Nineveh and its capital Mosul, where no official results were published Saturday, but where a two-thirds majority against the constitution is theoretically possible.
Voters were voting on a draft democratic and Islamic constitution with wide-ranging federal rights for the regions and provinces. The constitution was approved by the Shiite and Kurdish communities, together some 80 percent of the population, but rejected by the Sunni minority which does not feel its rights will be protected under a weakened central government. Analysts have expressed concern that prolonged uncertainty over the outcome of the referendum could inflame sectarian passions, but electoral officials urged patience.
