Via the NYT (Polls Close in Iraq’s Constitutional Referendum) it would appear that the vote on the Iraqis constitution went fairly well and now the counting begins.

Via the AP we find that the violence in Baghdad was relatively light:

Insurgents attacked five of Baghdad’s 1,200 polling stations with shootings and bombs, wounding seven voters. But the only deaths were those of three Iraqi soldiers in a roadside bomb far from a polling site, and there were no major attacks reported as U.S. and Iraqi forces clamped down with major security measures around balloting sites.

And that Sunni turn-out appears to be higher than in January

But in Sunni areas in Baghdad and several key heavily Sunni provinces, a surprisingly high turnout in some areas seemed to consist largely of Iraqis voting “no” because of fears the new constitution would mean setting in stone the Shiite domination they fear.

The Sunni Arab turnout was a dramatic change from January parliamentary election, which most Sunnis boycotted. Now they were eager to cast ballots.

WaPo notes that the in Ramadi seven voters were killed:

The worst violence Saturday morning was in Ramadi, an insurgent and Sunni Arab stronghold about 55 miles west of the capital, where prolonged clashes between militants and U.S. soldiers forced three of the city’s main polling centers to close shortly after they opened at 7 a.m. Hospital officials said that at least seven people seeking to vote were killed by insurgents early in the day, and the continuous crackle of gunfire kept streets empty.

And also notes the Sunni turn-out:

In other Sunni areas, turnout was described as surprisingly brisk. According to voting reports received at 11:30 a.m. by U.S. Army officials in Salah Aldin, an overwhelmingly Sunni province north of Baghdad, 33,000 had already voted in the town of Baiji, 22,000 in Awaj, 17,000 in Tikrit and 20,000 in Samarra. Voting in Samarra was so heavy that polling places ran out of ballots in the early afternoon, officials said, and more were being brought in under U.S. support.

Sunnis boycotted Iraq’s parliamentary elections in January, and Sunni leaders sent conflicting messages to their followers about whether to vote in Saturday’s referendum. That confusion and insurgent threats to target voters led to uncertainty about whether Sunnis would turnout en masse to cast ballots.

Sunni voters in the area interviewed by reporters were nearly unanimous in saying that they had voted against the constitution, which many Sunnis believe is deeply flawed.

On this subject, Matthew Shugart has an interesting post on the overall process, wherein he takes a pessimistic view of the deal that was brokered earlier in the week and about the majoritarian nature of the constitution and the process.

I share most of his concerns, as much they are warranted.

However, I am a bit more optimistic about the deal and will wait until after the December election to render judgment (or, at least, to see what the numbers are today and how the Sunnis react to the results, assuming the document is ratified).

In regards to the deal: I think that a situation that 1) gets at least some elements of politicized Sunnis to support the process, and 2) encourages greater Sunni voter turn-out is a net plus over the status quo ante.

At a minimum the situation will allow for further negotiations in an Assembly that has a large proportion of Sunnis (or should, assuming that there is no Sunni boycott in December). Although Matthew is correct, the Shiites will still dominate that process, which may make an substantive negotiations impossible.

I certainly share his concerns about both the ad hoc nature of the process, the precedents set, the majoritarian nature of the constitutional order and the bizarre “federalism” in that constitution.

Still, it seems to me that any process (within reason), at this stage, which increases the percentage of the population engaged in the building of the institutions is a positive. It is hardly ideal, I will grant.

Certainly, I made some public recommendations, granted in short-form as a column (http://techcentralstation.com/061504E.html) that haven’t been followed, and over a year later I would likely rethink a few.

This may all yet end very badly, but it does seem to be me that this deal has at least the potential to improve the situation.

In simple terms, it is better to have Sunni voter participation and the chance to negotiate constitutional change with more elected Sunnis than the situation would be sans the deal, hence my somewhat positive view on the subject.

Still, this is all far from over.