Iraq's draft constitution was approved by a majority of voters during the country's Oct. 15 referendum, election officials said Tuesday, according to the AP. Results released by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq indicated that Sunnis, who had opposed the document, failed to produce the two-thirds "no" vote they would have needed in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces to defeat it.
Nationwide, 78.59 percent backed the charter while 21.41 percent voted against, the commission said. "Whatever the results of the referendum are ... it is a civilized step that aims to put Iraq on the path of true democracy," Farid Ayar, an official with the electoral commission, said.
Two provinces — Salahuddin and Anbar — had voted against the constitution by at least a two-thirds vote. A third province where many Sunnis live — Ninevah — produced a "no" vote of only 55 percent. It should be noted that Ninevah had been a focus of fraud allegations.
