healthy turnout
The top UN envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, said initial reports indicated a "fairly healthy" turnout.
Qazi called the referendum "a very important benchmark in the political transition" and stressed that "whatever the choice of the Iraqis the political process will proceed."
But underscoring hostility among Sunni Arabs, posters outside a prominent Sunni mosque in Baghdad showed Iraq cut up by bloody sabres held by hands attached to US and Iranian flags.
"No to the constitution that tears the unity of Iraq," it declared.
In Hilla, south of Baghdad, loudspeakers at Shiite mosques blared: "The constitution is Iraq's salvation," backing the recommendation of Iraq's revered top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
Security measures for the vote include a four-day national holiday that began Thursday, an extended curfew, a ban on civilians carrying weapons and a ban on the use of personal vehicles.
sealed borders
International borders have been closed to traffic except the transport of food, water and fuel, and Baghdad airport was shut down until Monday.
"Everything has been going well so far, with very few incidents," top UN election official Carina Perelli told reporters. "The operation is running smoothly."
In the northern city of Mosul, men with assault rifles warned voters that a polling station would be attacked, and handed out leaflets depicting a donkey voting in front of a figure of Uncle Sam.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said that if the constitution is adopted, if the December elections proceed smoothly and if enough Iraq security forces can be trained, the US military presence could begin to decrease next year.
"Of course it will depend on the circumstances, but it can happen as early as early to mid next year," he said.
Polls opened at 7am and 5,617 stations were operating of a total 6,235, Lami said. Voting is scheduled to close at 5pm.
The Iraqi electoral commission said 52,000 official observers would oversee the vote, and since political parties were also authorized to attend, the total number could reach up to 116,000.
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