Iraqis on track to pass constitution as 61% vote

IRAQ's constitution seems certain to have been approved by voters despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs, who voted in surprisingly high numbers in an effort to stop it.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice predicted the charter was likely to pass, although she stressed she did not know the outcome for certain.

Initial estimates of overall turnout on Saturday were 61%, election officials said.

Rejection appeared highly unlikely after initial vote counts showed that a majority supported the constitution in two of the four provinces Sunni Arab opponents were relying on to defeat it. Opponents needed to get a two-thirds "no" vote in three of those provinces to stop it.

They may have reached the threshold in Anbar and Salahuddin, but Diyala and Ninevah provinces appeared to have supported the document by a wide margin.

The latter three have Sunni majorities but also powerful Shi'ite and Kurdish communities, which made them focal points for the political battle.

In Diyala, 70% supported the referendum, 20% opposed it and 10% of ballots were rejected as irregular, said Adil Abdel-Latif, the head of the election commission in Diyala. The result came from a first count of the some 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 provinces are collected for final confirmation.

According to a vote count from 260 of Ninevah's 300 polling stations, about 300,000 people supported the constitution and 80,000 opposed it, said Samira Mohammed, spokeswoman for the commission in the province's capital, Mosul.

Ballots from the remaining 40 stations still had to be counted, but it would be virtually impossible to get the two-thirds "no" needed by Sunni opponents. A nationwide majority "yes" vote is assured by the widespread support of the Shi'ites, who make up 60% of Iraq's estimated 27 million people, and the Kurds, who make up another 20%.

The constitution is a crucial step in Iraq's transition to democracy after two decades of rule by Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. Washington hopes it passes so that Iraqis can form a legitimate, representative government, tame the insurgency and enable the 150,000 US troops to begin withdrawing.

If the constitution is approved, Iraqis will choose a new parliament in December 15 elections. Parliament then will select a new government, which must take office by December 31.

If the charter is defeated, parliament will dissolve but the December elections will go ahead as planned. The new parliament then will draft another constitution and present it to voters in a second referendum.

Saturday's referendum saw few attacks on voters, and no voter deaths from violence.

But the US military reported yesterday that five American soldiers were killed on voting day by a roadside bomb during combat operations in the western town of Ramadi, a Sunni insurgent stronghold.

The deaths brought to at least 1,975 the number of US service members who have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.