Iraq is preparing itself for another milestone in the process of "democratisation" imposed by the United States: a nationwide referendum today on a new constitution that is rejected by much of the Sunni Muslim minority, writes Lara Marlowe in Baghdad.
Residents of the southern Shia city of Basra celebrated their anticipated referendum victory by driving through the streets honking horns and beating drums. The results will be announced in about five days.
However, Baghdad has slowed to a halt since Wednesday as residents stay at home for fear of violence.
Some 450 Iraqi civilians have been killed in shootings and bomb blasts over the past 20 days.
The referendum precedes the scheduled start of Saddam Hussein's trial by only four days.
US and Iraqi forces have installed concrete barriers and barbed-wire coils around schools and other public buildings that will serve as polling stations today. No civilian cars are allowed to move anywhere in Iraq until tomorrow morning.
The Iraqi and US governments claim the new constitution will help to stabilise the country and eventually lead to the departure of US troops. Agreement on a final draft was only reached on Wednesday night. Government television last night broadcast the text of last-minute changes.
Critics say the constitution's provision for extended regional autonomy could spell the division of Iraq into Kurdish, Sunni and Shia states.
On Wednesday, the Sunni Muslim Islamist Party rallied to the government side, increasing the likelihood that the Yes vote will win.
Other Sunnis yesterday attacked the party for "selling out" to the US- led initiative. Though sometimes described as the biggest Sunni party in Iraq, the real popularity of the Islamic Party is unknown.
Assailants believed to be Sunni insurgents threw a grenade at the home of a prominent cleric, bombed three party offices and set fire to a fourth. The grenade exploded before dawn outside the home of Sheikh Mowayad al-Azami, the head of the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad's Aadamiya district.
No one was hurt, but al-Azami's son was threatened during prayers the previous evening. Demonstrators yesterday marched towards the mosque carrying banners saying "No to the constitution".
Also in Baghdad, a bomb exploded outside a school that US soldiers were fortifying for use as a polling station, wounding four civilians. Roadside bombs damaged Islamist Party offices in three cities.
In Falluja, 100 members of the party marched to its headquarters and turned in their resignations before setting fire to the office.
The split among Sunnis further fragments Iraqi politics. Shia Muslims are divided between supporters of the young cleric Moqtada al- Sadr and the older leaders of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), who are close to Ayatollah Sistani and Iran.
Al-Sadr's Mehdi militia has fought SCIRI's Badr militia in recent months, but, with the crucial support of Ayatollah Sistani, the Shia maintained unity on the constitutional referendum, asking their followers to vote Yes.
In Tikrit, Saddam's home town, Sheikh Rashid Youssef al-Khishman accused the Islamist Party of "breaking nationalist ranks in return for nothing" and told worshippers at Friday prayers to vote against "the infidel constitution written by foreign hands". Anyone who did not vote No was not a Sunni, he said.
"This constitution will tear the country apart," predicted Saleh Mutlaq, a leader of the Sunni National Dialogue group.