JURIST - Paper Chase: BREAKING NEWS ~ Final referendum results show Iraq constitution approved

[JURIST] Wire services are reporting that final results of the October 15 Iraqi referendum announced in Baghdad Tuesday show that the draft Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] has been approved.

7:49 AM ET - According to officials, two provinces voted "no", but in the closest third province, Nineveh, 44% of voters had endorsed the constitution. Two-thirds of voters in at least three provinces would have had to vote "no" in order for the charter to be rejected. Nationwide, 78% of Iraqis supported the draft, and 21% opposed it. A spokesman said that the electoral commission had found no instances of fraud that would have affected the result. BBC News has more.

5:05 PM ET - The Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar and Salahudinn (Tikrit) voted heavily against the draft, by margins of 96.96% and 81.75% respectively. AP has posted province-by-province results as reported by the IECI.

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