On the recordOctober 19, 2005
over the weekend an historic day occurred in Iraq. Millions of Iraqis took another step toward democracy and turned out to vote for a new constitution. While the final results will not be known until the end of this week, the large turnout of voters and the significantly fewer security incidents are, therefore, a sign that Iraq is on the way to democracy. Close to 63 percent of the country's 15 million registered voters cast ballots, which is significantly more than turn out in the U.S. presidential elections. Violent incidences were far less this election than in January. Perhaps contributing to the low levels of violence was the presence of Iraqi security forces themselves. These forces were up 35 percent since January to almost 200,000. Finally, after years of oppression under Saddam Hussein, Iraqis were able to hold a truly fair, open election. Saturday was indeed an historic day. ____________________
Source
govinfo.gov
