charter and 21 percent opposed it. Of the 18 provinces, two recorded "No" votes greater than two thirds, one province short of a veto. A two-thirds rejection vote in three of the country's 18 provinces (of which three—Mosul, Anbar, and Salahaddin—are thought to include Sunni majorities) would have required the dissolution of the Assembly, fresh elections, and the recommencement of the entire drafting process. Turnout in the referendum was 63 percent, according to commission officials. The drafting and adoption of the new Constitution was not without controversy, however, as sectarian tensions in Iraq figured heavily in the process. The chairman of the drafting committee, Humam Hamoudi, regularly made statements which were interpreted as meaning that there would be no compromises on Sunni demands. The deadline for the conclusion of drafting was extended on four occasions because of the lack of consensus on religious language. In the end, only three of the 15 Sunni members of the drafting committee attended the signing ceremony, and none of them signed it. Sunni leaders were split as to whether to support the constitution. Saleh al-Mutlaq, the chief Sunni negotiator, urged followers of his Hewar Front to vote against it, but the biggest Sunni block, the Iraqi Accord Front did support the document after receiving promises that it would be reviewed and amended, taking into account their views. A Constitution Amendment Committee has been set up in this regard, but the progress has been slow. Notably, the same figure who chaired the drafting committee, Humam Hamoudi, is chairing the amendment committee as well. Drafting and adoption The Transitional National Assembly of Iraq, which was elected in January 2005 pursuant to the Coalition Provisional Authority's Transitional Administrative Law, appointed a Constitutional Committee for the purpose of preparing a draft constitution by 15 August 2005. The Committee was initially made up of 55 members, all of whom were drawn from the Transitional National Assembly, but its membership was eventually expanded beyond the Assembly's numbers, in order to allow representatives from the Sunni Arab community to participate (given that the latter had boycotted the elections that gave rise to the Transitional National Assembly). According to the Transitional Administrative Law, the Constitutional Committee was obliged to complete its work by 15 August 2005, and for the draft to be submitted to a referendum by 15 October 2005. However, by the beginning of August 2005, all parties were in agreement