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Sunni leaders reject Iraq charter

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 09:33 CDT

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Arab Sunni leaders rejected a referendum which ratified a new Iraqi constitution on Tuesday, saying "fraudulent" results would discourage them from taking part in December elections and fuel insurgent violence.

"Violence is not the only solution, if politics offers solutions so that we can move in that direction. But there is very little hope that we can make any gains in the elections," said Sunni leader Saleh Mutlaq.

"I call on the free world. I call on the United Nations to intervene. We will not accept any referendum or election without international observers."

Iraq's Electoral Commission released final results of an October 15 referendum showing 79 percent approval for the constitution, a key part of the U.S. strategy of deflating of Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq by promoting peaceful politics.

Carina Perelli, head of the U.N. team providing technical assistance to the Iraqi government, told reporters the election results should be trusted.

Iraqi officials had earlier said they were auditing early results which indicated more than 90 percent of voters backed "Yes" in certain areas, leading some opponents of the charter to question whether the results were being fixed.

Final results released showed 79 percent of voters backed the charter and 21 percent opposed it nationwide, with 63 percent turnout.

A veto would have been possible had more than two thirds of voters in three provinces rejected the measure. But of Iraq's 18 provinces only two ended up mustering a two-thirds "No" vote, including the Sunni insurgent heartland of Anbar.

ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD

U.S. officials sponsoring the political process had described the election, in which many in the disaffected Sunni Arab minority took part, as a success for democracy.

But Mutlaq and other prominent Sunnis who had been involved in negotiations on the draft charter accused the Iraqi electoral commission of bowing to U.S. pressure and fixing results in favor of Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders dominating the government.

The Iraqi government has been struggling to draw Sunnis into the political process but the charter has deepened sectarian divisions which have generated talk of civil war.

Sunni Arabs say the constitution gives Shi'ites and Kurds too much power and control over oil resources.

Once dominant under Saddam Hussein, Sunnis lack a united leadership in the new Iraq, making it difficult for the Baghdad government to reach any comprehensive agreements with the sect which makes up 20 percent of the population.

Violence had eased during the referendum and the opening of former president Saddam Hussein's trial last week.

But the lull was smashed on Monday when suicide bombers rammed their vehicles into a Baghdad hotel complex, killing at least 12 people and injuring 22.

An explosion on Tuesday in the Iraqi Kurdish of Sulaimaniya killed at least nine people, a hospital official said.

Prominent Sunni Hussein al-Falluji predicted more bloodshed after what he called a referendum manipulated by Washington.

"We all know that this referendum was fraud conducted by an electoral commission that is not independent. It is controlled by the occupying Americans and it should step down before elections in December," Falluji said.

"Politics is linked directly to security on the ground. The situation can only get worse now. I have just prayed to God to expose the truth about what is happening in Iraq."

(Additional reporting by Reuters Television)

Source: REUTERS

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