BAGHDAD, Oct 24: Two of Iraq’s 18 provinces have returned “No” votes to a constitutional referendum, the electoral commission said on Monday, possibly making Nineveh the swing province that could veto the US-backed charter.

Commission head Abdel Hussein al-Hindawi told a news conference that in the predominantly Arab Sunni province of Anbar, heartland of the insurgency, 96 per cent voted “No” and in Salahaddin 81 per cent voted “No”, according to preliminary results.

The northern Nineveh province, which is a melting pot of Arab Sunnis, Shias and other sects and ethnic groups, is widely seen as having considerable influence over the fate of the referendum. Under Iraqi law the constitution will be struck down if two-thirds of voters in three provinces reject it.

Hindawi said the commission had so far received 135 minor complaints over violations which did not impact the results.

Iraq’s Shia and Kurdish leaders are hoping the charter will unite the country, where Sunni insurgents are waging a campaign of suicide bombings and shootings in a bid to topple the US-backed government.

Leaders of the Sunni minority, once dominant under Saddam Hussein, are fiercely opposed to the constitution, fearing it will give Shias and Kurds too much power and oil resources.—Reuters