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Iraq

On mostly peaceful day, Iraqis cast votes

Sunnis, whom U.S. and Iraqi officials have long struggled to bring into the political fold, show up in mixed numbers to vote on the draft constitution.

By wire services
Published October 16, 2005

BAGHDAD - Millions of Iraqis streamed to the polls Saturday to vote on a new constitution, and there appeared to be strong turnouts of Sunni voters in some parts of the country. With little violence, turnout was more than 66 percent in the three most crucial provinces.

The constitution still seemed likely to pass, as expected. But the Sunni turnout - high in some cities like Mosul, low in others like Ramadi - made it possible that the vote would be close or even go the other way.

Washington hopes the constitution will be approved so that Iraqis can form a legitimate, representative government, tame the insurgency and enable the 150,000 U.S. troops to begin to withdraw.

First returns are expected today; final, unofficial results are due Thursday.

Turnout appeared to be highest in Shiite and Kurdish areas, although in many places, including Baghdad, it appeared not to approach the levels seen in January. Both communities were expected to vote overwhelmingly in favor of the constitution.

Some 9-million Iraqis cast ballots Saturday, the Associated Press reported, citing unnamed election officials, with a preliminary turnout estimate of 61 percent.

January's turnout was 58 percent, but Sunnis largely boycotted that election while Shiites turned out in droves in their chance to dominate the new government.

The mood on the streets of many Iraqi cities, even in Shiite areas, appeared markedly less enthusiastic than on Jan. 30, when millions of Iraqis braved an onslaught of violence to cast ballots and celebrate in a vast outpouring of prodemocratic sentiment.

On Saturday in Baghdad, streets were noticeably bare of pedestrians, polling centers were less busy and voters exhibited little overt enthusiasm.

A day that U.S. and Iraqi leaders feared could become bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months, amid a heavy clampdown by U.S.-Iraqi forces across the country.

U.S. troops in Baghdad and most of the country yielded election security to Iraqi forces, save for American convoys that rumbled through Baghdad. As in January, a one-day ban on private vehicles helped block suicide attacks. Iraqi troops manning checkpoints in Baghdad fell into impromptu soccer games with children, who poured into the streets, rollerskating and biking through the city.

Insurgents attacked five of Baghdad's 1,200 polling stations, wounding seven voters, but there were no suicide bombings or other major attacks. Four Iraqi soldiers were reported killed by attacks far from polling sites - compared with the more than 100 attacks that hit January parliamentary elections, killing more than 40 people.

The country's Shiite majority - some 60 percent of its estimated 27-million people - and the Kurds - another 20 percent - largely support the approximately 140-article charter, which provides them with autonomy in the northern and southern regions where they are concentrated.

The Sunni Arab minority, which dominated the country under Saddam Hussein and forms the backbone of the insurgency, widely opposes the draft, convinced its federalist system will tear Iraq into Shiite and Kurdish ministates in the south and north, leaving Sunnis in an impoverished center.

Most Sunnis appeared to be voting no even after one major party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, came out in support of the draft because last-minute amendments promised Sunnis the chance to try to change the charter later.

In Baghdad's Sunni neighborhoods, those who voted said overwhelmingly that they would oppose the constitution. They expressed little nostalgia for Hussein's regime but pointed instead to the violence and economic privations that engulf the country.

"I have no power, I have had no water for three days, I live in the harshest conditions I have ever known," said Abdul Hamid Ghaffouri, a clothing salesman and a Sunni, who cast a ballot Saturday. "Can you tell me any reason I should vote yes?"

But not all Sunnis voted no.

"I insisted on voting, even though my neighbors told me it would be dangerous," Haifa Ahmed Satoor, 38, a government worker and a Sunni, said in Baghdad before voting yes.

"I don't want more people killed in the name of Sunni resistance," Satoor said. "We already lost neighbors - I don't want to lose relatives."

For Sunni opponents to defeat the constitution, they must get a two-thirds no vote in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces. Their best chances were in Anbar, Salahuddin, Ninevah and Diyala. In the Sunni Anbar province, streets and polling stations in towns strung along the Euphrates River valley were largely empty as residents remained hunkered in their homes, fearing insurgent violence or so embittered they refused to vote.

The minimal turnout in Anbar - as in the January election - suggested the key battleground between U.S.-Iraqi forces and insurgents, would remain alienated from the political process.

But voting was not along sectarian lines everywhere.

In Sadr City, a mostly Shiite area of Baghdad controlled by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led uprisings against the U.S.-led coalition last year, people were widely expected to vote yes.

Voting centers were set up in the U.S.-run prisons at Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca for some 13,000 detainees, many of them suspected insurgents. There was even a polling station at Camp Cropper, where Hussein is incarcerated. There was no word on whether he had cast a ballot.

Bush administration officials said they were pleased that Iraqis appeared peaceful and enthusiastic about voting.

In his weekly radio address, President Bush said Saturday that the referendum dealt "a severe blow to the terrorists" while sending a message to the world. "Iraqis will decide the future of their country through peaceful elections, not violent insurgency."

Speaking in the Democratic radio address, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark called the vote "an important step toward a democratic Iraq." Still, he said, "let's not kid ourselves about the difficulties that lie ahead." Defeating the insurgency, winning the support of alienated Sunnis, training Iraqi forces and rebuilding the country's infrastructure and economy remain formidable tasks, he said.

Information from the Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post was used in this report.

IF APPROVED: Iraqis will choose new Parliament in national elections to be held by Dec. 15. Parliament will then select new government, which must take office by Dec. 31. New administration will be first permanent, fully constitutional government in Iraq since collapse of Saddam Hussein's rule in 2003. Sunnis can propose constitutional amendments in first four months of new Parliament. Amendments would need two-thirds approval in Parliament and gain voter support in referendum.

IF DEFEATED: Current Parliament dissolves, but the mid December elections go ahead as planned. New Parliament must draft another constitution within a year and present it to voters in second referendum. Interim constitution approved in March 2004 would continue as legal foundation for governing Iraq.

WHY AMERICANS CARE: Washington hopes the constitution will be approved so that Iraqis can form a legitimate, representative government, tame the insurgency, and enable the 150,000 U.S. troops to begin to withdraw.

[Last modified October 16, 2005, 01:33:15]