December 15, 2005

They boycotted previous elections, but this time the Sunni Arabs appear to have decided they want a role in government. By IWPR staff in Iraq

UK IRAQIS FLOCK TO THE POLLS Iraqi election fever grips a small corner of suburban North London. By Daniel Trilling in London

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SUNNI ARABS VOTE FOR INCLUSION

They boycotted previous elections, but this time the Sunni Arabs appear to have decided they want a role in government.
By IWPR staff in Iraq

As Iraqis across the country went to the polls to elect a permanent parliament, voter turnout in some Sunni Arab areas was estimated as high as 90 per cent.

High voter participation in areas like Anbar province, the scene of much of the insurgent fighting, indicated that unlike the election and referendum held earlier this year, the Sunni Arabs wanted to make their voices heard in this ballot.

Election day passed with little violence, and voters appeared to be less jittery about poll security than they were in ballots earlier this year. While there were problems with some voter registration lists in the northern Kurdish regions, few violations were reported,

Security was tight in most of the country. Voters had their bags checked and were forced to switch off their mobile phones before entering polling stations in Baghdad, where the streets were mostly quiet.

In contrast, a celebratory atmosphere engulfed Sulaimaniyah, a Kurdish city in northeastern Iraq that has experienced little violence since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in April 2003. Honking cars draped in Kurdish flags choked the streets, but there were no Iraqi national flags to be seen.
Voting at some of Iraq's 6,200 polling stations was extended until 6 pm due to the unexpectedly high turnout. Some polling centres in areas like Fallujah actually ran out of ballot papers, so more were delivered to allow registered voters to take part.

There were 20 coalitions vying for seats in Iraq's 275-seat parliament. The new National Congress will be Iraq's first permanent parliament since Saddam's fall and will hold power for four years.

Approximately 15 million Iraqis were eligible to vote in an election that was monitored by 70,000 observers. Turnout appeared high in most provinces, electoral officials and monitors reported. Farid Ayar, spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq, IECI, said it did not expect to release final election results for at least two weeks.

Sunni Arabs had largely boycotted post-Baathist Iraqi politics - but they turned out in force this time, according to observers across Iraq. They mostly went for Sunni Arab coalitions, but secular lists such as the Iraqi National list led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi also appeared to win some backing, sources in several provinces reported.

In the western province of Anbar, electoral commission director Saad Abdul-Azeez estimated that 90 per cent of the region's 667,000 eligible voters had cast ballots. Fifty-eight polling stations opened in Ramadi, the volatile capital of Anbar, and in surrounding areas such as Qaim, Rutba and Haditha.

If the projections prove accurate, this election will mark an astonishing change in voter participation, in a province where only a limited number of polling stations opened for the January parliamentary election and the constitutional referendum in October. Fallujah was a battleground between United States forces and insurgents ahead of the January poll, and Ramadi has seen clashes since September.

The presence of US forces is opposed by many people in Anbar, so they played an arms?s length supporting role to local units who took charge at the polls. Working through local leaders, the Iraqi government armed about 1,500 residents to provide security, according to Brigadier-General Jubair Gataa, who commanded of a local force of residents.

"We worked with the multinational forces so that they wouldn't enter the town except in case of urgent need - and they didn't. Residents found only one bomb near a polling station, and it was defused," said a security coordinator with the electoral commission in Anbar, who asked to remain anonymous.

"The fighting might resume tomorrow," said Khawla Abdullah, a teacher. "But we look forward to democracy, safety and freedom."
Abdul-Rahman al-Mashhadani, an election monitor in Baghdad with the non-governmental organisation Hamurabi, said no major violations occurred in Baghdad. He expected 90 per cent turnout in Sunni Arab areas.

"I'm participating in the elections for the first time," said Qussay Abdul-Aziz, a 32-year-old professor at Al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad. "I couldn't sleep last night thinking about who I should vote for. I think I have done something good."

He endorsed one of the main Sunni Arab coalitions, the Iraq National Accord Front.

In Baghdad, a mortar shell lightly injured two civilians and a US Marine when it exploded just outside the Green Zone. There was also an attack on the northern town of Tal Afar, and a grenade killed a guard near a polling station in Mosul, the Associated Press reported.

In Tikrit, the largely Sunni Arab hometown of Saddam in central Iraq, high turnout was reportedly high. Police patrol cars and even ambulances roamed the streets, using loudspeakers to blast messages encouraging people to vote and assuring them that it was safe.

Martial law was in effect for the elections, but was lifted in Tikrit because security there was already tight enough, Salahaddin provincial governor Hamad Mahmood Shakiti announced on local television.

While the northern Kurdish regions remained relatively calm, some voters found their names had been left off the electoral roll. Dozens of them staged a protest outside the electoral commission office in Sulaimaniyah, where local officials reported that as many as 10,000 names were missing from the official voter lists sent from Baghdad.

"I suffered a lot in the mountains for the sake of this day, and now I'm being deprived of the opportunity," said Ibraheem Kareem Faraj, a veteran from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces whose name was not registered with the electoral commission.

In Dahuk in northwestern Iraqi Kurdistan, 30,000 names were missing from official registrar lists. Election officials in the local capital Erbil said the voters were allowed to cast ballots after electoral staff decided to use registration lists from the January election.

At a polling centre in Erbil, Salahaddin Muhammed Bahaadin, secretary general of the Islamic Union of Kurdistan party, and several of his deputies and bodyguards were beaten with rifle butts by security guards when they went to vote, according to Halkawt Ali, one of his staffers. Some of his deputies were slightly injured.

"We are aware of the incident, but we can't do anything because we haven't received an official complaint," Abdul-Masih Salman, director of the IECI office in Erbil.

Offices of the Islamic Union of Kurdistan were attacked shortly before the election. The party was formerly part of the main Kurdish list, the Kurdistan Alliance, but decided to go it alone in this election.

In the Shia holy city of Najaf, a polling station director who asked to remain anonymous estimated that 90 to 95 per cent of the voters supported the Shia-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, which was listed as no. 555 on the ballot papers.

Several handicapped voters chanting "555" were rolled in wheelbarrows to vote, and many voters marched to polling stations waving photos of Iraq's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

"I have told my son that I'll seek someone?s hand in marriage for him on election day," said Najaf housewife Ibtisam Hussein. "We want to bring happiness twice."

Parliament and thus the cabinet are currently dominated by the United Iraqi Alliance, but some voters have accused the leadership of sectarianism, and many are frustrated with the government?s failure to deliver security. The alliance and the Kurdish bloc, which came second in the January polls, are expected to lose some seats to Sunni Arab coalitions which boycotted that election but are taking part this time round.

Sistani, who strongly influences religious Shia voters, did not endorse any list but encouraged voters to back candidates supporting their values. Many observers believed this call would keep his followers from voting for secular Shia lists such as Allawi's Iraqi National List and deputy prime minister Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress.

"We have received no complaints from monitors who were supervising the process," said Ali al-Batat, head of one of the polling centres in Basra, a predominantly Shia region in southern Iraq. "Turnout was very good and exceeded 70 per cent."

This report was compiled from reports by IWPR trainee journalists Daud Salman in Baghdad; Yasin al-Dilaimi in Ramadi; Jasim al-Sabaawi in Tikrit; Frman Abdul-Rahman in Erbil; Talar Nadir in Sulaimaniyah; Haider al-Musawi in Najaf; and Safaa Mansoor in Basra.


UK IRAQIS FLOCK TO THE POLLS
Iraqi election fever grips a small corner of suburban North London.
By Daniel Trilling in London

Jubilant Iraqis dance in the street, waving flags and cheering as passing cars and campaign vans honk their horns in response. The queue of eager voters stretches around the corner of the polling station as officials rush to and fro, trying to direct the sea of people towards the ballot boxes.

Further off, police and security guards stand watch to make sure the election passes without incident.

This, however, is not a scene from Baghdad, Basra or Kirkuk. It?s Wembley on a damp Wednesday afternoon. Amid the concrete slabs and building sites of this north London suburb, a Hindu community centre is the unlikely setting for a scene from the latest episode in Iraq?s turbulent history.
Overseas voting for the Iraqi general election is taking place this week in 15 countries around the world, including the UK. At centres in London, Birmingham and Manchester, British-based Iraqis have been casting their votes in their country?s first full-term parliamentary election.

So far, several thousand people have poured through the London centre?s doors since polling opened on Tuesday morning. It bares little resemblance to the genteel parish churches and primary schools used in British general elections. Teams of advisers are on hand to talk voters through the electoral system and the 300-odd political entities standing for office, while more than 150 observers from political parties and international organisations oversee the voting process.

Security is tight, with British and Iraqi police keeping watch. Prospective voters have to pass through airport-style metal detectors and security checks upon entry. But they remain undeterred. So far, turnout looks to have at least equalled that of January?s election and London operations manager Mostafa Hashim is in an optimistic mood.

?The good turnout this week is an indication that people are trusting the political process and sends a message to the terrorists and enemies of freedom in Iraq that they won?t stop us. Whoever wins at the ballot box, it is really the Iraqi people who have won today,? he said.

This is the first election to be carried out by Iraq?s own Independent Electoral Commission, IECI, and getting ready in time has been a mammoth task. The Iraqi Association, a charity that provides support to the estimated 250,000 Iraqis living in Britain, warned in November that there was a lack of information about candidates and the voting process.

But these problems seem to have been overcome. Press officer Souad Aljazairy explains how hard staff have had to work to meet their deadline.
?I started my job three weeks ago and there has not been enough time to deal with everything ? we?ve been working from nine in the morning to 2am the next day. But although I am tired, as an Iraqi I can say that this is democracy. We have waited a long time for this moment, even fought for it with our lives,? she said.

Outside the election centre, 44-year-old Shwani Ahmed proudly displays a purple-stained index finger and smiles when asked how he feels about voting.

?This is the first time in my life that I?ve voted and I?m very happy about it. I left Iraq six years ago but I wouldn?t go back because I?m worried about my safety. Hopefully this election will establish stability and then I will be able to return,? he said.

A change to the Iraqi nationality law earlier this year means that anyone with an Iraqi parent is eligible to vote. As a result, some voters may have never set foot in the country.

Angela Alalioui, 28, left Iraq when she was a baby, but still sees voting as a necessity.

?It?s important that every Iraqi votes in this election. Not just for us, but for our children?s futures. Some people say why vote if you?re not going to benefit, but if I don?t take this opportunity to vote, then who will?? she said.

Daniel Trilling is an IWPR contributor.

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