Iraqi Constitution Vote - Sunnis Come Out in Droves!

The Iraqi insurgency had one goal regarding the new Iraqi Constitution - keep Sunnis away from the polls and thereby make the process illegitimate. They even bombed the office of one Sunny party that was encouraging its followers to vote. But it appears their worst fears may have been realized. Iraqis came out to a 66% voter turnout, and the Sunnis came out in even larger numbers.

Sunni Arabs voted in surprisingly high numbers on Iraq's new constitution Saturday, many of them hoping to defeat it in an intense competition with Shiites and Kurds over the shape of the nation's young democracy after decades of dictatorship. With little violence, turnout was more than 66 percent in the three most crucial provinces.
The constitution still seemed likely to pass, as expected. But the higher-than-forecast Sunni turnout made it possible the vote would be close - or even go the other way - and cast doubt on U.S. hopes that the charter would succeed in luring Sunnis away from the insurgency.

For comparison, the 2004 election - U.S. election with the largest turnout in decades - has a 60% voter turnout here.