{"id":1119,"date":"2005-10-16T22:06:27","date_gmt":"2005-10-17T03:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2005-10-16T22:06:39","modified_gmt":"2005-10-17T03:06:39","slug":"iraq-constitution-appears-likely-to-pass-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=1119","title":{"rendered":"Iraq Constitution Appears Likely to Pass Referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"

With official returns some days away, signs are already positive the the Iraqi people, who turned out in large numbers to the polls Saturday, will likely approve<\/a> their constitutional referendum.<\/p>\n

Local election officials in Diyala province say 70 percent of the 400,000 people who voted there in Saturday’s referendum said “yes” to the draft constitution. Twenty-percent rejected it and 10 percent of the ballots were rejected as being irregular.<\/p>\n

Sunni Arabs, who largely reject the constitution because they believe it gives too much power and oil wealth to rival Shi’ites and Kurds, form a majority in Diyala, Salahaddin and Nineveh provinces. But all three provinces have sizable populations of Shi’ites and Kurds, who mostly favor the constitution.<\/p>\n

Without Diyala, Sunni Arabs now have a more difficult task reaching the two-thirds “no” vote in three provinces that would be required to nullify the constitution. That has raised concern that Sunni dissatisfaction over the charter could deepen sectarian and ethnic tension in Iraq, and strengthen the Sunni-led insurgency.<\/p>\n

Sunni Arabs lost power and have felt marginalized since U.S.-led forces deposed Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. Many Sunnis boycotted elections in January in protest, which brought Iraq’s long-oppressed Shi’ites and Kurds to power.<\/p>\n

Sunnis charge the country’s new powerbrokers drew up the constitution with the intention of ignoring the Sunni people, and looking out only for their own communities. Sunni Arabs say that is a recipe for starting a civil war.<\/p>\n

VOA spoke to about a dozen Sunni Arab residents who took part in Saturday’s vote. Most said that they participated because they regretted boycotting January elections, and needed to feel politically relevant again.<\/p>\n

The heavy turnout gave hope to some that enough Sunni Arabs voted “no” to defeat the constitution. Others said that they voted with the hope that their involvement in the political process will help undercut support for foreign Sunni extremists, like al-Qaida terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and bring stability to Iraq.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

If the constitution passes, Sunni Arabs have a chance to request changes in the charter after elections in December. The challenge of Sunni leaders now is to calm their followers, and focus on generating a huge turnout of voters in December, which will then allow Sunni Arabs to form a political bloc to be reckoned with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once again, the terrorists failed to stop the Iraqis from voting in large numbers and failed to make the streets run with blood. Maybe, just maybe, they’re not the great and popular force that some seem to believe.<\/p>\n

Also, with each election, democracy becomes more ingrained in Iraqi society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With official returns some days away, signs are already positive the the Iraqi people, who turned out in large numbers to the polls Saturday, will likely approve their constitutional referendum. Local election officials in Diyala province say 70 percent of the 400,000 people who voted there in Saturday’s referendum said “yes” to the draft constitution. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east","category-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}