Reply #6: In Sunni stronghold, turnout for Iraq’s .. referendum is sparse [View All]

[struggle4progress]

In Sunni stronghold, turnout for Iraq’s constitutional referendum is sparse

An estimated 2,000 people vote; Marines had hoped for 40,000

By Gordon Trowbridge
Times staff writer


RAMADI, Iraq — A rush to join Iraq’s fledgling democratic process, hoped for and predicted by U.S. officials, failed to materialize here on Saturday, as voters in this violence-plagued provincial capital largely stayed home during Iraq’s constitutional referendum.

In the operations center of 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, which patrols about two-thirds of Ramadi, Marine officers were unsure whether insurgent threats, scattered violence as Election Day opened or Sunni Muslim rejection of the U.S.-led political process was to blame.

But there was clearly disappointment that predictions of significant voter turnout, fed by pledges from many residents to vote in hopes of defeating the draft constitution, proved too optimistic.

The Marine unit’s early estimates put total turnout at the eight Ramadi precincts in its sector at about 2,000. That number included about 700 votes by Iraqi soldiers based in the city, and an unknown number from election workers. <snip>

http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1175807.php