What Now For Iraq?

Stardate 4757.8

CTV - Iraqi voters adopt new constitution

It would seem as though 78% of 9.8 million voters approve of the new constitution and 21% oppose it, according to Independent Electoral Commission officials. To pass, the charter needed a majority win, except if any three provinces had a 2/3 "no" vote. Most opposition came from the Sunni arabs, but many of them failed to vote it would seem. One Sunni province had a 55% "no" vote and two others had over 2/3 saying "no", but the rest were not so high.

Some numbers were questionable, such as a 99% "yes" vote in one Kurdish province, but experts have verified the results.

So what happens now I wonder? Personally, I think the constitution will do nothing to settle the tensions there, especially considering how high the opposition is, even if they couldn't be bothered to vote. It will still take the removal of the occupying forces as well as a lot of time to settle the factions down on their own.

With the constitution endorsed, a new Iraqi parliament can be elected as scheduled on Dec. 15.