A poll taken by “The Iraqi center for national development & dialog”, which is headed by former Planning minister Mahdi Alhafith. Reveals 88% of Iraqis polled said they will participate in the next vote (for the constitution) on the 15th of October. 5% said they will not vote 6% had not decided yet.
"Mr. Alhafith said to Alhayat newspaper: The poll included 3667 Iraqis, 53% men, the polls showed that 88% of those support holding the constitutional vote under current condition, while 10% were against for various reason. Some of the reasons were that Iraq is not a free country of its own sovereignty, the constitution will not meet their ambitions or that Iraq does not need democracy now and that the security situation will not allow the proper implementation of the constitution.
"As to how many polled support federalism, Alhafith said that 25% of those polled said they support federalism and consider it the preferred way to run the country. He added that 91% of those in favor of federalism were Kurds. While 58% prefer a central government with provincial administration. 17% refused to answer. Further, 45% want a central government, 23% prefer a union type government, 16% prefer a non central government and 13% refused to answer.
"As to the question of Islam being a main source of legislation. 42% support having Islam being the main source of legislation. 24% support having Islam be the only source of legislation. 13% support not having any law which conflicts with Islam. 14% support having Islam being only one of many sources of legislation, not the only one.
"As for women’s rights and women’s representation in the legislature. 84% support giving women full rights and benefits as men."
There's a lot of positive things here, chiefly among them the fact that 88% of Iraqis are still interested in participating in the Democratic process even in light of the fact that they will likely face violence from terrorists on their way to the polls (though the 84% supporting women's rights is a close second).
There are some in this country who told us that the Iraqis weren't capable of democracy and even now denigrate the constitution process as hopeless. While the Iraqis aren't out of the woods yet, it is clear that the vast majority of them are interested in seeing their country run by a government and framework of laws put in place by the people.
There is a minority that resists and this minority will not doubt the lion's share of media attention in the days leading up to the constitutional vote, but I don't think we should let the gripes of that minority overshadow the feelings of the Iraqi majority.