BAGHDAD, Oct 15: Voters from across Iraq’s ethnic and religious spectrum flocked to cast ballots on the country’s new constitution on Saturday, but their vastly different motivations underlined the deep divisions within the country.

Early estimates showed around 10 million people – almost two-thirds of the 15.5 million registered voters - cast ballots on the charter, which establishes a democratic framework for a new Iraq, but has sharply split the country.

Shias danced and celebrated in the central and southern regions of Iraq, in anticipation of what they believe is a certain approval of the new constitution.

In Sadr City, an impoverished Shia neighbourhood in Baghdad, crowds took to the streets waving portraits of their religious leaders.

“Our constitution has been approved, down with the Baathists!” chanted one joyful crowd, in reference to members of Saddam Hussein’s disbanded political party.

“I voted yes, because (Grand Ayatollah Ali al) Sistani favours it. Whatever he orders, we carry out,” said Adel Abdel Hussein, 34, a resident of Al Zubeir, located some 570kms southeast of Baghdad.

In the northern reaches of the country, Kurds also streamed to the polls in support of the charter, which confirms the status of their autonomous region and was hailed as momentous step by regional president Massoud Barzani.

“It is a historic day that crowns the sacrifice of martyrs,” Mr Barzani told reporters after casting his ballot. He said the referendum ‘laid the foundation for a democratic Iraq and peaceful coexistence between its ethnic groups’.

Mohammed Said Mohammed, a Kurd who said he had been persecuted under Saddam’s rule, had ‘the feeling of voting against the ousted dictatorial regime’.—AFP