Baghdad, Iraq – Over two years have been invested in Iraq with hopes that the country can function independently.
This past weekend the Iraqis were asked to vote on a rough draft of the Constitutional Referendum in hopes that the country can function as a more stable democracy without the United States help.
In a broadcast Monday morning, CNN Student News Anchor Judy Fortin stated “The results of Iraq’s weekend vote may not be known for a few days, but U.S. and Iraqi officials are optimistic about what appeared to be a strong turnout by millions of voters.”
The numbers are up about five percent to 63 percent from last years attempt at a vote. And officials are positive that the number of votes for “yes” are high enough where they can avoid the two thirds rule. This rule would reject the bill if two thirds of the votes were “no”.
This referendum differs from the first election because the first election just so happened to be post-fall of Hussein. This in itself was an omen, Sunni, followers of Hussein, protested the election until the end. The Sunni make up only 20% of the population, the rest is made up of the Shi’ite and Kurds. The Shi’ite and Kurds are in favor of the constitution.
However, controversy swirled around fraud accusations from Sunni Arab leaders on Monday, October 17.
Meshaan al-Jubouri claims that Iraqi police took ballot boxes from areas voting heavily to reject the referendum. Sunni leaders also claim that some provinces supporting the referendum cast more votes than there are voters.
However, officials caution that it is too early to determine whether the unexpected preliminary results are correct. According to election officials, in some areas the ratio of “yes” to “no” seemed disproportionate to the populations political views.
For example, the Sunni Arab population in the province of Diyala is believed to have a slight majority, however the preliminary count showed a 70 percent “yes” and 20 percent “no.”
Determining the proportion in the population is difficult because Iraq has not taken a census in 15 years, according to MSNBC.com.
Bush was pleased with the number of Sunni votes citing it as an indication that the Iraqi people want to settle disputes democratically and peacefully.
“I was pleased to see that the Sunnis have participated in the process,” said Bush. “The idea of deciding to go into a ballot box is a positive development.”
As of Monday October 17, due to sandstorms in Iraq, not all votes have been tellied.
If the referendum is a success, the lawmakers of Iraq will start shaping the government of Iraq. If it is a failure, another Constitution will be drawn up and voted on, again.