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Official: Voter turnout in Iraq is mixed

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer

http://www.bakersfield.com/24hour/world/story/2805810p-11441400c.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Voting in Iraq's predominantly Shiite Muslim south was very high in Saturday's constitutional referendum, but turnout in Anbar, the mostly Sunni Arab province where insurgents are active, was low because of fears of violence, a U.N. official said.

Carina Perelli, director of the Electoral Assistance Division of the United Nations, said she had not yet heard about voting in the heavily Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.

"The report that we have right now basically is the voting in the south is ... extremely high," Perelli told The Associated Press just after the polls closed at 5 p.m.

"The early indication is that the voting Anbar is extremely low because of the special circumstance of that province," she said.

Perelli said voter turnout was very steady in many other mostly Sunni regions, which boycotted legislative elections in January.

She could not give exact turnout figures or any indication of vote results.

Ratification of the constitution, which was strongly favored by the Shiite majority and Kurds, requires approval by a majority of voters nationwide. However, if two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "no," the charter will be defeated, and Sunni Arabs had a chance of swinging the ballot in four volatile provinces, including Anbar.

Perelli said there had been far fewer insurgent attacks than expected at the thousands of heavily protected polling stations across Iraq.

"It has been very peaceful," she said.