| Page 3 of 3 < |
Sunni Turnout Is High In Vote on Iraqi Charter
Iraqis in the northern city of Mosul wait in long lines to vote in the referendum on the proposed constitution, drafted largely by Shiite and Kurdish leaders.
(By Mohammed Ibrahim -- Associated Press)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
On Saturday, most of the elation seen in January's vote was gone. Men, leading wives, sisters and daughters to protect them, made straight lines through milling children to the polls and then retreated back inside their homes.
Many voters objected strongly to the last-minute dealmaking that kept many Iraqis from seeing the draft constitution in its final form.
"I may be in the minority, but first of all I am not voting to support something I have not seen, and they never showed us the constitution," said Majeed Khadhan, 35, a taxi driver in Najaf. "Second, the Americans say this is about democracy, but we do not live in a democracy when we are occupied. . . . This constitution will not help that. It was made to please the politicians, not to please the people."
Some, however, retained the excitement they had in January.
"I cannot read, but my sons and daughters read parts of the constitution to me and told me it would provide security and stability in the future," said Mardhiya Omar Ibrahim, 85, who was carried to a polling place in Mosul on her son's back. "So I went out to vote for it because I want the future to be safe and peaceful for my sons and grandchildren."
"I vote a thousand times 'yes,' not only once, because I have not forgotten the mass graves and the torture and the killings," said Abdul Hussein Ahmed, 63, a laborer who emerged from a polling station in Najaf with purple finger aloft.
"Five members of my family were killed by Saddam and his people. But now, with this constitution, everyone is equal under the law," Ahmed said.
In the north, where passage of the constitution with its federal system would enshrine the de facto autonomy Kurds there have enjoyed since the Persian Gulf War, Salih Saeed Mohammed, 64, blew on his ink-stained finger as he left a polling place. "This process legitimizes the fate of our nation," he said, referring not to Iraq but to the Kurdish north, where many believe its establishment as a federal region will lead to independence.
When polls closed in the city of Sulaymaniyah, thousands of people poured into the streets among drivers pounding car horns and waving Kurdish flags.
Correspondents Jonathan Finer in Najaf, Steve Fainaru in Ishaqi and Jackie Spinner in Sulaymaniyah, staff writer Michael A. Fletcher in Washington and special correspondents Bassam Sebti and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad, Naseer Nouri and Saad Sarhan in Najaf, Dlovan Brwani in Mosul and Salih Saif Aldin in Tikrit contributed to this report.
