The official results are in… and the people of Iraq have a new constitution.
As I mentioned in earlier posts, two Sunni provinces voted overwhelmingly against the charter… but the required 2/3 in a third province was not achieved. That said, the UN and other international observers has indicated that all the voting was free and fair and without problem… so the results must be taken as they are. And that’s great.
This is a good day for Iraq. AFter everything that Iraqis have been through I think this… along with the election last January are nothing by GOOD things…. as will the coming elections in December.
There is still plenty going wrong in Iraq though… security being the main problem. As I’ve said before, without a feeling of day-to-day security and well being, these good steps taken by Iraqis at the polls will potentially be wasted. I of course hope that isn’t the case, but at this point no one knows. The simple act of voting in a referendum or election does not bring peace and stability. That requires far more.
One element of this referendum that I think *could* have a positive effect on the security of the country is the fact that Sunnis voted in massive numbers. Hopefully this is a rejection of violence as much as an accepance of the political process.
Only time will tell though.. and of course there are others in the insurgency that would work to dismantle any progress being made.
Today is a good day in Iraq. Be happy. Share your happiness. I think we’ll need it to get us through the next few weeks, months and years.
Remember, the US of A took 10 years to agree upon the constitution that we now have lived under for 218 years. Most of that time was spent in working out agreements among the various States. Germany’s post WWII constitution wasn’t voted on and approved until late 1949. No doubt, Iraq’s recently approved constitution is far from a done deal. More rewriting, concessions, and negotiations must be expected until the important needs of each group is agreed upon by the nation as a whole. I’m highly encouraged by the progress made to this point. There is more work to be done to be sure. It will get done unless the Cindy Sheehans of our country undermine this process to a greater degree of success.
Indeed. This sort of thing takes time.
Canada didn’t have a Constitution until 1980… neraly100 years after its’ birth as a country. We didn’t even have a our flag until the 60s.
1980? Why so late? I don’t think that Australia had their constitution very early either –
I just read “A Sunburned Land” by Bill Bryson and I think he pointed out that their constitution was written in the 50s or 60s…anyway it took a long time.
Oh, well, the UK still doesn’t and probably never will have a written constitution. Americans are so saturated with discussions of our Constitution that it’s hard to fathom those civilized societies that can get along without one for a long time. It wouldn’t surprise me if someday the US has a Church of the Constitution, we hold it to be so important.
” It wouldn’t surprise me if someday the US has a Church of the Constitution, we hold it to be so important.”
lol ya really
I’m not sure why it took until 1980… actually it was 1982… my bad.
I was very young then of course and I haven’t read much or heard much about whether there were any talks about having a constitution before 1982. I suspect there probably was some, but with the necessity to include Quebec in some way, it was always a tricky and touchy subject. Trudeau and Mulroney after him were the only two to address the subject.
Canada did have a Constitution Act between 1886 and 1982, but it didn’t include a Bill or Rights/Charter of Rights and Freedoms… and it was drawn up, of course, following UK law and procedure so the constitution of 1982 was the first Constitution written by and for all Canadians…. unfortunately, it wasn’t successful in including Quebec completely. Brian Mulroney tried to include Quebec in the Meech Lake and then Charlottetown Accords, but both attempts failed to have the support of Canadians.
Since then, there hasn’t been much talk… and while it sits, there is always the possibility of Quebec seperating. There isn’t much interest though now, either for re-working the constitution or among Quebeccers seperating.
In fact the most talk lately about seperating has been from (selfish) Albertans who are, for whatever reason, constantly unhappy and bitter, regardless of how much black gold they happen to be sitting on.
OOps.. meant to share a link to the Constitution Acts of Canada.
It’s fun reading the 1862 document… love the language.
Thanks Chris. After I become retired (Dec 31st this year! YEAH!) I’ll devote some serious time to reading this interesting document. Now I don’t have time to really study stuff – studying interferes with me getting in my requisite number of hours of sleep per day at the moment. 🙂 It’s more and more of a challenge to find time to participate on the web due to time constraints in my life.
Ya you’re telling me! Life take up a lot of time… but that’s OK, for the most part, the stuff that keeps me from the web is good stuff so I don’t complain much.