Al-Anbar governorate rejects Iraqi constitution

An official in the independent "higher commission for the elections" in Iraq said that the governorate of al-Anbar, of Sunni majority, rejected the draft constitution, to be the second governorate after Salah Eddine governorate to vote down the constitution draft, while other 12 governorates voted in favor according to declared results.

The official added during a press conference that the rate of people who reject the constitution reached 96.95 percent. The percentage of persons who rejected the constitution in Salah Eddin governorate reached 81.75. The draft constitution referendum fails if it is rejected by three governorates by a majority of two thirds of the votes.

The Department Of State spokesman Sean McCormack yesterday said "If three provinces have majorities of more than two-thirds of the voters rejecting the referendum, then, of course, it does fail. But at this point -- and again, these are provisional results -- my understanding is the IECI has said that there are two provinces that have met that threshold in no votes, rejecting the referendum. So we're going to wait and see what the final results of the referendum are. I think that most are encouraged by the fact that, regardless of the outcome of the referendum, you have seen the political base, the political class in Iraq, expand. You have seen upwards of one million more people voting in this referendum than did in the January elections. That is certainly encouraging. It's important that more Iraqis invest in the political process."

However, auditing the results of the vote on the constitution is still ongoing in the governorates of Ninwa, Babel, Irbil, Basra. The committee announced that the final results will be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday, Ninwa governorate and its main cities, Musil, constitutes the final word in the success or failure of the draft constitution referendum.