Two thirds of Baghdad voters will say ‘yes’ to new constitution

 

By Abdulatif al-Mawsawi

 

Azzaman, October 13, 2005

 

More than two thirds of people in Baghdad think positively of the proposed constitution and will support it in Saturday’s referendum, suggests a poll by an independent group.

 

Some 77% of the 1,486 people questioned by the Iraqi Institute for Studies and Research said they were happy with the draft, while 20% thought negatively of it.

 

Meanwhile an overwhelming majority (90%) said they would go to polls on Saturday with only 2% still unsure and 8% saying they will stay at home.

 

Nearly six million people live in Baghdad out of the country’s estimated population of 26 million.

 

The poll was conducted before the latest amendments were made to bring opposing groups on board.

 

But many Sunni opponents still reject the draft and have called on Iraqis to vote it down.

 

The institute said it also carried a similar investigation in two southern provinces where it found up to 90% of eligible voters in favor of the constitution.

 

Senior Shiite Clerics have called on followers to go to polls on Saturday, urging ‘yes’ to the draft charter.

 

The institute said it had no idea on how voters in the Sunni-dominated provinces will vote. There have been several studies on the referendum but none on the four provinces inhabited mainly by Sunni Arabs.

 

Arab Sunnis are the majority in Ramadi, Saladdin, Mosul and Diyala, the four major strongholds of the anti-U.S. resistance in the country.

 

The constitution will fail if voters in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces muster two-thirds majority against it.

 

The charter will also fail if more than half of voters reject it nationwide – but that is very unlikely to happen amid strong support from the country’s majority Shiites and minority Kurds.