SLOVAKIA RELEASES STATEMENT ON IRAQ REFERENDUM

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000881 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NCE, NEA/I, AND EUR/PPD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM KPAO PREL PGOV IZ LO SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA RELEASES STATEMENT ON IRAQ REFERENDUM REFTEL: A. STATE 199224 ¶B. STATE 198365 ¶1. Pursuant to reftels, Slovakia released the following statement on the results of Iraq's October 15 referendum on the draft constitution. The statement is available in English at the MFA website at http://www.foreign.gov.sk/En/index.html . BEGIN VERBATIM TEXT OF STATEMENT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic is pleased with the results of the referendum on the draft constitution from 15th of October 2005, released by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, according to which 79 percent of Iraqi citizens expressed their support. The Slovak diplomacy commends the Iraqi people for this historic event. The high level of voter er turnout throughout the country testifies their support to the worldwide antiterrorism alliance. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs extends its admiration and respect to all voters who turned out to vote despite the violence and threats against them. The completion of the referendum is considered as a significant step of the Iraqi people towards building a democratic and legally consistent state. With the adoption of the constitution, Iraq can now move forward to the next step in its political transitional process, the holding of national elections on 15th of December 2005 and consequently create a government to complete the process of the democratization in Iraq. END VERBATIM TEXT. VALLEE NNNN