Iraqis approve new constitution

[muriel_volestrangler]

Iraq's new constitution has been approved, according to official results from the nationwide referendum held earlier this month.

Opponents of the constitution needed two-thirds of voters in three provinces to reject the document, and seriously delay the political process in Iraq.

But electoral commission officials said 44% of voters in the key province of Nineveh had endorsed the constitution.

This means only two provinces voted "No" by the required margin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4374822.stm

There are reports of interference in Nineveh, you won't be surprised to hear.

[Taxloss]

1. Great minds ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1875337

Both at exactly 12.16pm!

[Demeter]

2. Oh Yes! New Constitution A Resounding Success!

That's why the streets are calm, full of ordinary citizens, going about their ordinary lives, free of terror, violence, and fear.
Free at Last!

(With apologies to those eating breakfast or with weak stomachs, and the King family.)

[acmavm]

3. I agree. We can leave now, can't we?

Let Freedom Reign as bush** says.

[Truebrit71sbruv]

8. Yup...

... job done... no loose ends to tie up... just slip out of the country quietly and remind the last one to leave to turn off the lights.

[Taxloss]

4. BBC Breaking: Iraqis approve constitution

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4374822.stm

Iraq's new constitution has been approved, according to official results from the nationwide referendum held earlier this month.

Opponents of the constitution needed two-thirds of voters in three provinces to reject the document, and seriously delay the political process in Iraq.

But electoral commission officials said 44% of voters in the key province of Nineveh had endorsed the constitution.

This means only two provinces voted "No" by the required margin.

Electoral commission officials told a news conference that overall, 78% of voters backed the charter and 21% opposed it in the vote on 15 October.

[LynnTheDem]

5. Let the civil war begin.

It's about to get bad in Vietraq.

[Taxloss]

6. I concur.

But hey, at least they have a shot at a form of democracy.

[Truebrit71sbruv]

9. because the US & UK went in...

...sprinkling "democracy dust"?

It's taken hundreds of years of democratic development to get our respective countries to our current level of democratic enlightenment (i.e. significantly corrupt, not truly answerable to the electorate and bank-rolled by the corporations and vested interests - great example for the rest of the world to follow).

The "West" attempting to impose a political ethos on a country with no similar history and massive cultural and religious differences ensured that this "experiment" was doomed to failure from the outset.

Violence was used, from the outset, as the catalyst for imposing democracy - violence is now, and will remain, the currency. It will always be seen in this context - and no matter how genuinely good the intentions were at the outset - we are now, and will always be considered the invader.

[cantstandbush]

7. About as resounding win as Bush had in 2000.

[tgnyc]

10. Final Tally Shows Iraqi Voters Approved Constitution

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/international/middleeast/25cnd-iraq.html?ei=5094&en=8bb546c90de6e202&hp=&ex=1130299200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1130247365-kOiSOhnYWPvsUarNeoY/IA

It failed in 2 provinces by wide margins, but in a third province by "only" 55% of the vote, not the needed 66%.

Worst-case scenario...

http://intelligencesquad.blogspot.com/2005/10/just-add-water.html

[stepnw1f]

11. Whatever... The Constitution is Meaningless

Perception may mean something here, but I'm sure with the reality of living there, people are less enthusiastic. America seems very efficient in creating chaos around the World.

Now why would anybody dislike the US?:sarcasm:

[KennedyGuy]

12. Great...So we get to leave now Right?

A meaningless constitution which will only accomplish the goal of making things worse.

[rogue_bandit]

13. Significant number of polling places not open

I heard on NPR this morning that a large number of polling places in Nineveh were not open for voting. Sorry, I don't have a link.

How can they say a state with a large number of people opposed to the constitution didn't vote it down by 2/3 when not everyone got a chance to vote? I don't get it.

[HuffleClaw]

14. hmmmmm

i'm dubious, to say the least. despite widespread reports of tampering, despite the reports of them MOVING polling stations at the last minute, and that many iraqis never even had the chance to SEE the thing they were voting on and lets not forget that this is not likely to be accepted by many anyways.