(CNN) -- Syria says results will be available Monday from its referendum on changes to the country's constitution, a vote taken as government troops continued pounding the opposition stronghold of Homs and other cities. Opposition activists reported at least 55 deaths across the country on Sunday, including 25 in Homs, which has been under bombardment for more than three weeks. Despite the ongoing violence, it held a vote on what the government of President Bashar al-Assad calls a move toward reform. Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar said the voting ran "normally" in most provinces, and turnout was "huge ... except in some areas," the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. Results from the vote would be announced Monday evening, SANA said.
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NEW: 55 people were killed Sunday, opposition activists say
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NEW: Syrian opposition appeals to al-Assad's Alawite community
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Hillary Clinton says al-Assad's regime is "illegitimate and going to fall"
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A former top White House official warns that Syria is not like Libya
Syria
Syria
@placeholder announced the referendum amid intense international pressure to halt the bloodshed and open up its regime to reforms.
Alawite
We are determined to unite our society, and the first step is for us to extend our hand to our @placeholder brothers and sisters, to build in Syria a nation governed by citizenship and the rule of law."
Bashar al-Assad
al-Assad
al-Assad
The opposition council acknowledged that the revolt had been tinged with "sectarian strife" -- but it blamed that on @placeholder's "brutal violence, which has led to an increase in sectarianism."