Polls open as Iraqis vote on landmark constitution

BAGHDAD - Iraqis headed to the polls in a historic referendum today, with up to 15 million eligible voters deciding on a controversial new post-Saddam Hussein constitution that its backers hope will unite the torn country.

Amid intense security, including a ban on all traffic, voters flowed on foot to polling stations across Baghdad as they opened at 7am (5pm NZT). They are due to close at 5pm, unless attacks cause delays and some are kept open longer.

In Hilla to the south of the capital, Falluja to the west and Kirkuk to the north, polling sites received a steady stream of voters, many enthusiastically saying "Yes" to the draft constitution and some others just as determinedly voting "No".

In Baghdad's fortified Green Zone compound, where the Iraqi government is headquartered, President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari were two of the first to cast ballots.

"I voted 'Yes' and I urge all Iraqis, no matter their different ethnicities and religions ... to vote 'Yes' to the constitution," Talabani, a Kurd, told reporters.

The Kurdish and Shi'ite-led government strongly backs the constitution, which it was largely responsible for drafting.

The charter will be ratified if more than half of voters say "Yes", and as long as two thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces do not say "No".

Prospects of a blocking "No" vote receded in recent days when one of the country's main Sunni Muslim parties threw its support behind the constitution after Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders agreed to consider amendments next year.

However, most Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the 27 million population, are believed to oppose the charter and the "No" vote is expected to dominate in their areas. In an election in January, most Sunni Arabs boycotted the vote.

In Falluja, a predominantly Sunni city that was until late last year a bastion of the Sunni Arab insurgency, Mohammed Jabber, a 35-year-old labourer, said he was intent on voting after deciding boycotting January's poll was a mistake.

"I came here to say 'No' to the referendum and to avoid the strategic error we made last time," he said. "This time we must participate in a big way and restore balance to Iraq, a balance that has been lacking since the previous election."

Others in Falluja and in areas of Kirkuk, where ethnic Turkmen oppose the constitution, also said they were voting "No". But Talabani said he did not think the veto would succeed.

While January's election marked a particular watershed for Iraq after 30 years of dictatorship, Saturday was also the first opportunity for people to vote in a free referendum in decades.

The last plebiscite was held almost exactly three years ago, under Saddam's rule, and it renewed his leadership for seven more years in a vote his regime said was 100 percent positive.

Ahead of Saturday's vote, those in Baghdad and towns to the north spent a hot night without electricity after a sabotage attack on power lines blacked out the capital -- not in itself unusual, but a discomfiting reminder of the militants' reach.

Insurgents, who have threatened widespread violence during the referendum, tried to carry through on that pledge.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb northeast of Baghdad, three other bombs hit police in Baghdad, wounding one, and gunmen fired on some polling sites overnight, but overall security appeared to be holding.

Hussein Hendawi, the head of the Electoral Commission which is managing the vote, said things were going well and that he thought results could come as early as Sunday evening or Monday.

More than 100,000 Iraqi police and soldiers will protect more than 6000 polling stations, with US and other foreign troops ready to help out should insurgents attack.

Patchy opinion polls and the sectarian arithmetic of Iraq suggest the constitution will be ratified comfortably. But talking to Iraqis across the country, there is also disquiet over a text pushed through to meet an American-backed timetable in the face of misgivings, especially among Sunni Arabs.

After threats from insurgents, who include both Iraqi nationalists and international Islamists like al Qaeda, borders were sealed for the vote. Shops and businesses have been closed since Thursday and private vehicles were banned from the roads.

The spiritual leader of much of the 60-percent Shi'ite majority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, as well as Kurdish leaders representing up to 20 percent of Iraqis, are urging a "Yes", probably ensuring a nationwide vote in favour.

Ratification of the constitution is a key plank in Washington's plan to start withdrawing some of its 156,000 troops. As the number of Americans to die in Iraq nears 2000, polls there show increasing unease in the US about the war.

Many Sunnis, and some Shi'ites and others, say provisions in the constitution for regional autonomy under a new, federal state structure risk breaking Iraq into sectarian and ethnic regions at war over oil.

Secular leaders and women's rights groups complain about the extent to which Islamic law is incorporated into the text.

Iraq's Sunni-ruled Arab neighbours see the hand of militant Shi'ite Iran in the rise of Iraq's southern Shi'ite majority.

Failure for the charter would mean that an election in December would elect only an interim assembly, as in January, charged with drafting a new constitution from scratch; this time though it seems Sunnis would take part and be fully represented.

If the text is ratified on Saturday, December's vote will produce a fully empowered, four-year parliament and may well usher in a very different coalition government from the present one dominated by Shi'ite Islamists and their Kurdish allies.

- REUTERS