Sunni Arabs Urge 'No' Vote in Referendum [View All]

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Politicians in Saddam Hussein's hometown urged Sunni Arabs to vote "no" in next week's constitutional referendum and insurgents killed one Iraqi and injured 10 with roadside bombs and drive-by shootings on Saturday. On Friday, six Marines were killed by bombs as the U.S. military announced it had completed a major sweep in western Iraqaimed at suppressing al-Qaida militants before the constitutional vote.

If two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "no," the referendum fails and Iraq's parliament must be dissolved and replaced in another election. Four of the country's provinces have Sunni majorities. Last month, the Iraqi Islamic Party, country's largest Sunni political organization, urged Iraqis to reject the constitution, saying it threatened "national unity and the identity of Iraqi people." That "no" campaign came to Saddam's hometown of Tikrit on Friday night when the local division of the party distributed about 150 copies of the constitution after prayers at the Tikrit Mosque and urged the worshippers to reject it.

"We brought copies of the constitution here from Baghdad so that you could see it and know the reasons that our party is calling on Sunnis to vote "no,'" Tal'at Dawoud, a senior local party official, said in a speech after evening prayers on Friday, the Muslim day of worship. Many minority Sunnis, most of whom live in central and western Iraq, believe the constitution would create two powerful and wealthy regions that exclude them: one controlled by Kurds in the north and another by Shiites in the south.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051008/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq