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Iraqi charter seems assured of passage
16.10.2005
By Sameer N. Yacoub
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Iraq's constitution seemed assured of passage Sunday
despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs, who
turned out in surprisingly high numbers in an effort
to reject it. The U.S. military said five American
soldiers were killed by a bomb blast west of Baghdad
on referendum day.
The constitution's apparent victory was muted,
though, by the prospect that the result might divide
the country further.
Rejection seemed more unlikely based on initial vote
counts in the three key provinces that Sunni Arab
opponents were relying on to vote "no" to defeat the
constitution.
The last of those provinces, Diyala, supported the
draft by 70 percent to 20 percent, with 10 percent
of the ballots rejected as irregular, said Adil
Abdel-Latif, the head of the election commission in
Diyala.
The result came from a first count of the
approximately 400,000 votes cast. At least one more
count was being conducted to confirm the votes,
which would then be sent to Baghdad, where results
from all the provinces are being collected for final
confirmation.
In London, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
predicted the charter was likely to pass, although
she cautioned that she did not know the outcome for
certain.
If two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's 18
provinces voted "no," the charter would be defeated.
Sunni Arab opponents hoped to reach that threshold
in four provinces: Anbar, Ninevah, Salahuddin and
Diyala.
AP
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