Security forces clamp down in Iraq before vote

BAGHDAD - A nationwide security clampdown virtually emptied city streets and highways across Iraq yesterday on the eve of a referendum on a new constitution.

Iraqi officials moved ballots into polling centres, but most shops were shuttered and there was little traffic.

A "Yes" vote is widely forecast, with religious leaders of the Shi'ite majority and Kurdish parties urging approval. But interviews with dozens of Iraqis in numerous towns revealed mixed feelings, not only in the disaffected Sunni Arab minority.

Iraq has tightened security before Saturday's referendum, closing its borders and increasing police and army patrols, hoping to foil insurgents who have threatened attacks aimed at derailing a vote Washington sees as key to Iraq's future.

US troops say they will keep in the background, away from polling stations, to limit accusations from some Iraqis that the constitution is being imposed under the duress of occupation.

But formidable firepower is in reserve to combat paramilitaries and protect the transport of ballot papers. Security measures may be working, with only limited violence in the past 48 hours.

An overnight curfew took effect on Thursday and private vehicles are banned from the roads entirely from Friday night to Sunday morning during a special four-day public holiday.

Hussein al-Hindawi, head of the Independent Electoral Commission, said ballots had been held under guard but would be moved to polling stations around the country on Friday.

"We put the materials in special safe storehouses near the polling stations, and today we are going to move them so they will be ready by tomorrow," Hindawi told Reuters.

The constitution is part of Washington's plan to establish a stable democracy in Iraq and eventually withdraw US troops.

Sunni Arab militants, angry at America and fearing the new constitution will sideline them in favour of the Shi'ite majority and its Kurdish allies, have staged a relentless series of car bombings, suicide attacks and kidnaps that has pushed Iraq towards chaos and killed thousands of civilians.

Negotiations aimed at winning Sunni support for the constitution scored a success this week when at least two main Sunni political groups opted to back the charter in exchange for a promise that amendments would be considered after the vote.

But other Sunnis have remained steadfastly opposed and militants have since turned their fury on the first party which voiced support for the document, attacking at least one of its offices and distributing leaflets accusing it of collaboration.

US TROOPS

The bloodshed has taken a brutal toll on Iraqis and turned the country into a growing political problem for US President George W. Bush, whose domestic approval ratings are dropping.

There are now at least 156,000 US troops in Iraq, or 15,000-20,000 more than has been normal. At least 1,957 American service personnel have died since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Shi'ites and Kurds, who make up three-quarters of Iraq's 15 million voters, are likely to ensure a "Yes" majority for the constitution. A two-thirds "No" vote in three of the country's 18 provinces would veto it, though chances for this seem small.

Divisions over the future of the constitution have reached right into the US-backed government, with one Sunni minister saying on Friday he thought the vote would go against the new charter: "There will be a 'No'," Industry Minister Usama Abdul Aziz al-Najafi told reporters during a visit to Malaysia.

"It doesn't represent the aspirations of all Iraqis."

The referendum is a prelude to new parliamentary elections in December which could further fuel Iraq's sectarian strife - a prospect which worries leaders across the Middle East, many of whose own populations have sectarian splits.

In wealthy Saudi Arabia, Sunni-ruled like most Arab states, officials were watching in fear that Iraq's vote would end up pushing the country closer to Shi'ite Iran, altering the balance of power in the world's chief oil-producing region.

"The constitution will give Iranians or pro-Iranian Iraqis an open hand in seven provinces in the south, to bring them together into an autonomy which will create a Shi'ite republic," one Saudi official said.

US military commanders have deployed troops to help ensure Saturday's vote gets under way, while Iraqi police and army will also be on hand to secure polling stations.

In a sign of the complications facing Iraq, a declassified Pentagon report said on Thursday that insurgent infiltration of the Iraqi police remained a serious problem.

It said 67,500 police have been trained and equipped so far, up 5,500 since the last report in July, but behind the goal of having 75,000 police by Saturday's referendum date.

- REUTERS