Iraqis have ratified their new constitution, the results of a referendum showed on Tuesday, October 25. Electoral Commission officials told a news conference 78 percent of voters backed the charter and 21 percent opposed it. Of 18 provinces, only two recorded "No" votes greater than two thirds, one province short of a veto. Turnout in the October 15 referendum was 63 percent, commission officials had said previously.
The current constitution of Iraq was approved by an October 15, 2005 ratification vote. The proposed constitution was drafted in 2005 by members of the Interim Iraqi Government to replace the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period, which had been put in force by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States and Coalition forces.
Only three of the 15 Sunni members of the drafting committee attended the signing ceremony, and none of them signed it. Sunni leaders were generally urging the electorate to reject the constitution in the 15 October referendum. A two-thirds rejection vote in three of the country's 18 provinces (of which four are thought to comprise Sunni majorities) would have required the dissolution of the Assembly, fresh elections, and the recommencement of the entire drafting process.
After the deadline for its conclusion was extended on four occasions, the text of the proposed constitution was read to the National Assembly on Sunday, 28 August 2005. It describes the state as a "democratic, federal, representative republic" (art. 1) (however, the division of powers is to be deferred until the first parliament convenes), and a "multiethnic, multi-religious and multi-sect country" (art. 3).
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