Washington thinks Iraqis voted ?Yes? to their US-brokered constitution and as poll workers counted and recounted piles of ballots across Iraq yesterday the possibility of a Sunni minority veto receded. ?Most people assume on the ground that it probably has passed,? Rice told reporters during a visit to London.

Turnout was running at 63 to 64 %, the head of the Electoral Commission Hussein Hendawi said, and could go higher. It was 58 % in January?s historic first post-Saddam Hussein election, which most Sunnis shunned. Officials from Hendawi?s agency began to give a picture of a strong ?Yes? vote in the Shi?ite Muslim provinces of the south and of massive rejection in the Sunni heartlands of the north and west. Two of three provinces that would need to return blocking majorities to veto the charter looked set to do just that, officials said. But it seemed unlikely that a third, out of 18, would follow suit, thus probably sparing the constitution. In schools and government buildings, officials were stacking piles of ballots; clear plastic ballot boxes, sealed with red tape, were then loaded into Iraqi army lorries and driven under escort for more counting in Baghdad.

Shi?ites and their Kurdish allies make up three quarters of the population but the Sunni Arab 20 % could veto the charter if three provinces vote ?No? by a two-thirds majority. Two provinces look set to clear that hurdle, including Saddam?s home region of Salahaddin around Tikrit and Samarra, where an official said the Noes had it by 70 %. In Falluja, where thousands of insurgents battled US troops, some 90 % of registered voters turned out, local election chief Saadullah al-Rawi said, and 99 % of them voted ?No? to a constitution that Sunni leaders say may tear Iraq into powerful Shi?ite and Kurdish regions. Overall figures from other cities in Anbar province, where Falluja lies, were not available but turnout was expected to be low due to fighting and fear of fighting during Saturday?s vote. If Anbar and Salahaddin return blocking ?No? results, all eyes will be on Mosul, the northern capital of Nineveh province and a city divided sharply between Sunni Arabs and Kurds. Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, might also vote ?No?. South of the capital, despite some surprisingly strong rejection by nationalist followers of radical Shi?ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, pro-constitution votes were clearly ascendant. In the provinces of Najaf and Kerbala, local officials said the constitution was approved by about 85 percent. Officials said partial official results could be available as early as yesterday, but that it would take days for the verdict to become clear.

If the constitution passes Iraq will go to the polls in December to elect a new, four-year parliament in a step that Washington says will mark its full emergence as a sovereign democracy and new Western ally. A ?No? vote would force its warring factions back to the drawing board, limiting December?s election to a new interim assembly and government to redraft the charter.

<B>Alastair MACDONALD Mariam KAROUNY</B>