Saturday, 15th of October 2005 for Iraqis was the day to say Yes or No to the draft of the new constitution. In general the Kurds and the Arab Shiites were pro and the Sunni Arabs were against the draft. Many foreigners ask what the key differences between the three groups are. This question can be answered in different ways but the principles remains the same.. For the draft to pass 50% + 1 of the voters should say Yes while for a rejection only 2/3 of the "participants" of three out of eighteen provinces need to say No and the process will be aborted which if happens will take the political process to the begining. The key issues where the religion, federalism, position from Baathism, wealth and language.
• According to the new draft the Iraqi constitution represents the will of the majorities while the Sunni Arabs who used to rule for the last 80 years even though they are a minority compared to the other two groups.
• Islam is "a main source" for the constitution but not the only one. The constitution should not contradict with the key principles of the human right charter.
• The Arabs inIraqcan be part of the Arab nation but not every one else (there are the Kurds who can be part of the Kurdish nation) thus the new draft does not refers to such an integration. It worth mentioning that vast majority of the Arab nation out! sideIraq (more than 300 millions) are Sunnis.
• According to the new draft federalism is an option for all Iraqis and it can be applied to any part ofIraqwhenever 2/3 of one or more provinces electors prefer it. While oil is a hot issue it is worth mentioning that more than 95% of Iraqi oil is situated in the (north)Kurdistanand the (south) where Shiites are the majority. Of course the new draft regulates the distribution of the wealth but it gives priorities to the regions (Federations) where the wealth is and has suffered under Saddam. According to these regulations, provinces likeBasrawhere most of Iraqi wealth (oil) is can spend more money in order to get clean and pleasant water for drinking as it never had that before!! Imagine having all this wealth under the ground and the government uses it for some whereelse or something else (wars for example) but still more than four millions living over it lack a proper drinking water!
• Arabic and Kurdish languages are both official in the country.
In general the three main groups had to compromise and they did. The Islamic party inIraq(the main Sunni Arab political party) just two days before the Referendumannounced that they support the new constitution. They said the guarantee they got at the last moment from the Kurdish leaders and the Shiites is that the draft or the constitution can be modified when the permanent Iraqi assembly is elected in December 2005 during a period of 4 months. The candidates for a possible "No" vote are Tikrit or Sallahaddin (the place of birth ! of Saddam), Nainavah and Diala (mixed Sunni Arabs and Kurds) and Anbar (where Faluja is). Two third of the voters in three of the four need to say No which does not look like.
The results are going to show up tomorrow hopefully. The process of voting was much more organized in comparison to the election process of last year. The security was much better too. In whole the country no single suicide act was successful and in one occasion a suicide bomber was arrested!
The rate of participation in Baghdadis said to be around 65% and in the south and in the north (Iraqi Kurdistan) much higher (up to 90%).
Briefly the exercise of referendum on the new constitution was a success. Now whether it is the "Yes" or "No" be the final word is important but the more important is that Iraqis said it. I believe this is a big success and a real step in the right direction for Iraqis but the problem is that like others I love to see stability and happiness comes to my country faster than the strategic plans or the way historians write about it and analyze it! Let's hope.