Public Unenthused by Constitution Poll--Inst. for War & Peace Reporting

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http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_144_1_eng.txt


Public Unenthused by Constitution Poll

Apathy and ignorance leaves many Baghdad residents ill-prepared for historic vote.

By Duraed Salman in Baghdad (ICR No. 144, 10-Oct-05)

Many Baghdad residents are uninformed about the upcoming constitutional referendum because of failed public awareness campaigns and dire living conditions that are breeding apathy.

Residents interviewed in the capital said they remained uninformed - or didn't care - about the October 15 referendum, which will mark the first time in the country's history that the public will vote on a constitution.

Already marred by political and sectarian divisions - many Sunni Arab leaders are opposed to the document in its current state - analysts noted that the vote may also be affected by limited public awareness of the proposed constitution's content.

The vote "signals a major turning point in the history and future of Iraq", said Baghdad University sociology professor Adul-Qadir Hamdi. He argued that a referendum this crucial requires solid, clear-cut information.

But a recent nationwide public opinion survey conducted by the United Nations found the majority of respondents – slightly over 60 per cent – knew little or nothing about the constitutional drafting committee. Nearly 77 per cent had not seen a copy of the proposed constitution, and 91 per cent had never participated in constitutional discussions hosted by civic or non-governmental organisations.

On the streets of Baghdad, posters encouraging citizens to vote were torn down so often in some neighbourhoods that the government decided to stop replacing them. The UN began distributing five million copies of the proposed constitution for public distribution just a little over a week before the referendum. And a government-sponsored media campaign that was supposed to outline in simple language details of the draft has proved ineffective.

Instead, the media has focused almost entirely on the politics surrounding the referendum on the proposed constitution, Hamdi asserted, and has ignored explaining the document itself.

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