Скачать или смотреть WRAP Result announced of Iraqi referendum on constitution, reax

(25 Oct 2005)

1. Wide of press conference
2. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Farid Ayar, Head of the Independent Electoral Commission:
"The total number of 'yes' votes is 78.59 percent and the 'no' votes, 21.41 percent. These are the final results of the referendum which took place on 15th of this month."
3. Cutaway of cameraman
4. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hamdiya al-Husseini, Deputy Head of the Independent Electoral Commission:
"Regarding the referendum process, it is now considered to have been successful."
5. Wide of press conference
6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Safwat Rasheed, Member of the Independent Electoral Commission:
''The terms stipulated in item 61 of the Iraqi interim administrative law for approving the draft constitution were available. Accordingly the draft constitution had been adopted by a majority of voters. And I call upon my colleagues in the Commission to sign off the final results of the referendum.''
7. Wide of press conference
8. Commission members signing off final results of the referendum
9. Wide of street in Baghdad
10. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Vox pop, Resident:
"'Many congratulations to the Iraqi people on the success of the constitution. I congratulate myself and all my people on this great occasion. And I wish all Iraqis the best.''
11. Wide of street
12. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Vox pop, Resident:
''Today is a day of great joy for the Iraqis over the 'yes' vote because it is a blow to terrorism. We defied all the hardships and all those who plot against Iraq. This is the first step on path of future progress.''
13. Wide of street

STORYLINE:

Iraq's landmark constitution was adopted by a majority of voters during the country's October 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it, election officials said on Tuesday.

"The total number of 'yes' votes is 78.59 percent and the 'no' votes, 21.41 percent," announced the Head of the Independent Electoral Commission, Farid Ayar.

The charter required a simple majority nationwide with the provision that if two-thirds of the voters in any three provinces rejected it, the constitution would be defeated.

The election commission, which had been auditing the referendum results for 10 days, said that Ninevah province, had produced a "no" vote of only 55 percent. Only two other mostly Sunni Arab provinces - Salahuddin and Anbar - had voted no by two-thirds or more.

Ninevah had been a focus of fraud allegations since preliminary results had showed a large majority of voters had approved the constitution, despite a large Sunni Arab population there.

Ayar said election commission officials, and UN officials who also took part in the audit, had found no cases of fraud that could affect the results of the vote.

Hamdiya al-Husseini, another elections official, said the commission had received 135 complaints about possible violations regarding the referendum, but that most were minor and none could have affected the overall result.

Commission member Safwat Rasheed said the law had been followed and he invited his colleagues to sign off the referendum's final results.

However, a Sunni Arab member of the committee that wrote the constitution, called the referendum "a farce" and accused government forces of stealing ballot boxes to reduce the percentage of "no" votes in several mostly Sunni-Arab provinces.

Many Kurds and majority Shiites strongly support the constitution, and on the streets of Baghdad on Tuesday, people said they were pleased with the result.



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