Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) Iraq approved its Constitution with 78% of votes cast in favour. This was announced in a press conference by Farid Ayyar, the spokesman of the independent Electoral Commission.
Only two out of 18 provinces of Iraq voted against the Constitution with more than two-thirds of voters saying "no": the Sunnite majority provinces of Al Anbar and Salahuddin: to block ratification of the new Constitution, there would needed to have been a third province registering such a result. According to latest results from the province of Ninive, which arrived today, the number of votes against the Constitution was of 55%, against 45% in favour: therefore the quorum to block the vote was lacking.
This is the first Constitution to enter into force in the Arab country since the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
