ALL interested parties will try to extract the message that most suits them from the overwhelming endorsement of the new Iraqi Constitution which was announced yesterday by the UN officials supervising the vote. However, regardless of any spin, the plain fact is that first the interim parliamentary elections and now the constitutional referendum have taken place, despite dire predictions that the men of violence would sabotage the process. The stage is now set for final parliamentary elections in early December at which point Iraq will have, on paper at least, completed its rapid transformation from a single-party dictatorship to a pluralist democracy.
One notable factor in this latest vote is the number of Sunnis who decided to take part. They boycotted the interim parliamentary election, either out of fear or because they did not believe the process really included them. This time it appears that they changed their minds. The total number of votes cast jumped from two million to some ten million. Just how many of these extra electors were actually Sunni, newly intent on making their views known and how many were Shiites anxious to secure an overwhelming endorsement for the new constitution, is bound to be a matter of considerable debate. It is nevertheless clear that many more Sunnis did vote this time, perhaps encouraged by the offer from Shiite and Kurdish parties to agree to further adjustments to the new constitution once the final Parliament has been elected.
Sunnis are, therefore, likely to go to the ballot boxes in even bigger numbers in December in order to ensure that their community secures sufficient representation in the new National Assembly to make their voice heard in the reopened constitutional debate. It is also clear that, for a second time, the men of violence came nowhere in this election. Their bloody campaign appeared to be increasing in ferocity in the weeks before the constitutional vote. Nevertheless, in the event, they were unable to disrupt the process nor, it seems, to dissuade an important number of voters from exercising their democratic rights. The three spectacular suicide bomb blasts on Monday across the Tigris from the heavily protected Green Zone have been characterized as acts of desperation. That may be true — or may not be. “Acts of desperation” has been how, for long, the occupation forces have been explaining their failure to “shock and awe” Iraq into submission.
However, in targeting the Palestine and Sheraton hotels where much of the world’s media is based, the terrorists may have hoped to pull off a “spectacular” that would renew their claim to be the ones who should have a say in deciding Iraq’s future.
Hours later the voice of the real Iraq was heard. Though 78 percent of Iraqis who voted supported the new constitution, 22 percent did not and no future government in Baghdad can afford to ignore the concerns and suspicions of such a significant minority. There is still a long way to go and the terrorists are far from defeated, but yesterday the decent, peace-loving people of Iraq clearly notched up another victory.
