.Baghdad Bureau Election Headlines
Election Turnout: Analysis
Across Iraq there were complaints from tens of thousands of people who wanted to vote but were prevented from doing so either because the strict curfew prevented them from reaching their polling center or because when they got there, their names were not on the center’s voter roll.
Part of the problem was caused by the large number of internally displaced Iraqis who no longer live in the province where they are registered to vote. During the sectarian and ethnic fighting of the last several years as many as a million people were displaced. While some have returned home, the majority remain in other provinces. While some updated their voting registration, the majority appear not to have done so.
Despite a lower than expected turnout nationwide few parties said they would file formal complaints or protest the outcome even though many complained that significant numbers of their voters had been prevented from casting their ballots. Most seemed to feel that the addition of those votes either would not substantially affect the outcome.
In Anbar Province the 40% turnout was the lowest in the country, surprisingly for an overwhelmingly Sunni-majority area where most expected voters to come back in from the cold after boycotting or being intimidated away from participation in the 2005 polls.
In the provincial capital Ramadi Omer Abood , a 22-year-old student, said: “I was supposed to vote but I could not. My father and my brother cast their votes. I suggested that I use my food ration card but they did not accept that.” Mustafa al-Dulaimi, 30, a day laborer said he was unable to reach his polling station in the al-Jazeera district, which lies outside Ramadi, because of the curfew.
In nearby Fallujah many repeated the complaints common elsewhere: apathy, cynicism and confusion. Maher Naji, 37, a day laborer, said: “I did not vote because I could not find a qualified candidate that I can trust, all those candidates came for their personal benefits.”
Abu Ahmed Al-Jumaili, 45, a government employee, said: “I went to a polling center in my neighborhood but I did not find my name. I visited more than one, but I didn’t find it.”
Apathy was the reason singled out by Khalil al-Azawi, an adviser to Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of the Iraqi Islamic Party.
“I think the reason for the low turnout in this election is frustration among the people. They participated in the elections hoping that it improve things but the result was that things went backwards,” he said.
“The other reason is a logistical one, which is the impossibility of reaching some polling centers for some people. The low turnout concerns us, as it would any other political party. Any party seeks a high turnout in order to increase its chances of winning.”
Election Reaction: Basra
The day after the elections in Basra, a lot of independent candidates and the more secular ones who were not affiliated with the big religious parties were dismayed and shocked at the widespread irregularities and problems with the voter roll. They felt this deprived them from getting even the slightest representation in the next provincial council.
I sat down with Hatem al-Bachary, a local businessman who heads an 11-candidate slate that was running only in Basra. The slate includes a female candidate, Zeinab Sadiq Jaafar, who had garnered widespread appeal in Basra during the campaigning.
“In the first few hours of voting there was tremendous enthusiasm among our supporters, but many were shocked because their names were not on the register,” said Mr. Bachary.
“They called me from Shatt al-Arab, Zubair, Qurna, Grama, the areas we have weight and most of our supporters were not on the voter register. I do not know, was this programmed or intentional?”
As we spoke a candidate running on Mr. Bachary’s slate called from the Faw Peninsula in the southern tip of the province. He was put on speakerphone. The man was so angry that I could barely make sense of what he was saying.
“We are very upset, 1,200 people could not vote,” shouted the candidate, Ahmed Jassim Othman. Again because of the voter register problems.
I crossed the street to talk to another independent candidate, Awadh al-Abdan, a Sunni Arab running on the slate of the National Dialogue Front, a national party headed by Sunni member of Parliament Saleh al-Mutlaq.
As I sat down with him one of his partisans called from Zubair to complain about the voter register there. “These elections are a charade,” quipped Mr. Abdan.
Although Basra province with its population of about 3.2 million is predominantly Shiite, it has long prided itself for its openness and diversity. It is home to numerous other groups including Sunnis, Christians, Sabeans and even a small black community.
A lot of residents feel that during the past four years Shiite religious parties who dominated the local government were consumed in turf wars among themselves and that this hurt the province in every way. Many independent candidates were running on the platform that if elected they would help moderate the influence of these religious parties, which include the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Fadhila (Virtue) and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party.
Election Turnout: Early Figures
Early turnout percentages released by the Independent High Electoral Commission in Baghdad on Sunday for Iraq’s Provincial Elections on January 31 were:
Total number of registered voters: 14.9 million
Turnout: 7.5 million
Turnout percentage: 51%
Provinces turnout:
Basra: 48%
Maysan: 46%
Dhi Qar: 50%
Muthanna: 61%
Qadisiya: 58%
Najaf: 55%
Anbar: 40%
Salahaddin: 65%
Wasit: 54%
Karbala: 60%
Babel 56%
Diyala: 57%
Nineveh: 60%
Baghdad: awaiting figures from some polling centers– expected 39-40%
Election Reaction: Iraqi Journalists' Experiences
Iraq’s provincial election day went off without serious incident. The atmosphere was peaceful and even celebratory, although there were complaints that many people could not find their names on the electoral lists because of the complexity of the voting system based on Iraq’s ration card system.
We asked Iraqi journalists working for The New York Times in Iraq to tell us about their experience of polling day yesterday, as voters. We will update throughout the day as they get back from working around the city and country to report on the results as they begin to take shape.
NYT stringer in Mosul – HIS FAMILY VOTED.
As a journalist stationed in one voting center, I was not able to vote. It made me very sad at heart that I was sitting out these elections (especially after boycotting the last ones).
After work I rushed to my assigned voting center only to find it long closed. I started blaming myself for not voting before heading to duty. At home, I was overjoyed to see my family’s purple forefingers. I hid my hand in my pocket, slipped to my room and dipped my finger in a bottle of ink. Not out of fear but out of a desire to be part of this great experience.
[I see the answers to the question I posed for the other journalist]
Ali, NYT stringer in Diyala. COULD NOT VOTE. HIS FAMILY VOTED. HIS BROTHER VOTED FOR HIS TEACHER IN RETURN FOR HIGHER MARKS
I have always seen in the ballot containers the magical experience that makes it possible to exchange the power between the individuals and the parties in a peaceful manner. These elections were the start of an important strategy in the world of democracy where everyone is treated equally. In the last elections in 2005, the elections were run with undisclosed lists that later produced corrupt and sectarian elements. This has changed now.
Early morning I started working my way through voting centers to vote for who I think is worthy of the responsibility but though I am a journalist and know the location of almost every voting center in Diyala I was exhausted trying to search through them. Things were quite unorganized. There was a clear lack of coordination within the Independent High Electoral Commission and people, former displaced citizens, were in a state of chaos and confusion. Our names were nowhere to be found. At last, all was revealed, IHEC’s laws and regulations had prevented those citizens from casting their votes because their names were in the provinces where they have fled to. And because of a lack of attention and advertising thousands of citizens, myself included, were denied our right to vote. I was quite sad but did not take it too hard. I told myself that if I did not vote today, there is always tomorrow.
However, my parents were in Baghdad and they got to vote. My father went for the Maliki list because he said it has steered away from religion and was going toward national patriotism, while my mother voted for a female candidate in the secular Iraqia list because she believes that this is the way to save the country from religious extremists. My brother, however, voted for a teacher of his (with the Chalabi list) who offered him extra credits in the finals. When I asked my brother why he did this he answered, “My teacher understands the political process, which is that we, the voters and the candidates, exchange interests. I give him my vote and in return he gives me what I need.”
In a random sample of The New York Times’s other staff in Baghdad: 40% voted, 30% could not reach the right polling station; 14% could not find their names on the lists; 10% of them did not try to vote; 6% of them were uncontactable.
Qassim H.J. - NYT cartoonist in Baghdad. VOTED, WITH NO DIFFICULTY. HALF HIS FAMILY VOTED.
I had no problem voting. I didn’t think I would find many people in my neighborhood taking part because it has been a very troubled one, with much violence. But many people turned out, and I saw no problems.
I voted for a secular list, for someone I know personally and who is qualified and responsible. I do not think he will win, because he is not from one of the big parties. Six of my family voted and the other six did not, because they did not think any of the candidates were suitable for the position, or would change anything.
Atheer Kakan – West Baghdad. FAMILY DISPLACED, DID NOT RE-REGISTER.
My family could not vote because the neighborhood where they are registered is too far away.
They moved from Sulaimaniya to Baghdad in the middle of January for sectarian, political and economic reasons. When they went to the voter registration office in Sulaimaniya it was very crowded and busy. They tried twice and gave up, and never went back again. Because they never updated their registration they could not vote.
Suadad al-Salhy – South of Baghdad. FAMILY ALL VOTED, WITHOUT INCIDENT
I did not vote because I have not found anyone who represents me. My husband feels the same. My parents, brother and sister-in-law all voted, although they had to walk more than two miles to the polling center. It was the first one they went to, so they were lucky.
An Iraqi employee of The New York Times in Najaf. VOTED, WITH DIFFICULTY
After sunrise on Saturday I went on a tour in the main streets on Najaf, as part of my duties as a stringer for The New York Times newspaper. The security forces were all over the place, which gave a sense of security and safety.
However, all did not go well. I had to go to more than three centers looking for my name and my wife’s name.
Finally I found them in a voting center two and a half miles away from where I live. Apparently, we were registered according to what our ration card said in 2005, which was that I lived with my family. Except that I transferred my ration card to another area a year and a half ago.
The problem was that many voters did not bother to go around centers chasing their names, and gave up after visiting one center. This led to the devastating participation rates, which could have gone up if not for this complication.
My wife and I voted for a relatively secular list but here in Najaf where religious lists are more active on the political arena, it is no surprise that a greater percentage of voters went for religious lists.
Abu Ali - Sadr City, Baghdad. VOTED.
A new sunrise told of a new life in the neighborhood of Sadr City. This was not an ordinary morning for me and my family. This was the day my son and I voted for the first time (I did not vote in the 2005 elections for personal reasons, and my son was under 18 year at that time).
I called my son to come and vote with me but he apologized and told me he would go with his friends. Later we met inside the polling center where he told me he voted for a secular list as well. Every once in while, we would hear someone cheering for one list or the other, and so passed the most important day in the life of Iraqis.
Anwar J. Ali – West Baghdad - DISPLACED. DID NOT VOTE.
As a displaced Iraqi family who moved away from Baghdad to Najaf for a period of time, the voting process was as confusing as I had expected.
My husband and I have now moved back to Baghdad and we felt that it was a national duty to cast our votes and we intended to do so. One problem, though, was that our ration card still read ‘Najaf’ from the time we lived there.
After checking with our where the nearest voting center was, we hoped that we would be able to register as voters without having to transfer our ration card from Najaf. When my husband went to check the nearest school, he was turned down after he told the security checkpoint that his ration card read Najaf.
Though my husband and I were disheartened at this news, we were fully aware of the right that the security force had to turn us down, as we felt that it was a necessary and sound movement to protect the integrity of the elections and to prevent forgery.
In the future, we hope to have a developed mechanism that can include all the people living in Baghdad, regardless of where their ration cards are registered.
Sahar S. Gabriel - East Baghdad - FAMILY VOTED WITHOUT INCIDENT.
Though I got tied up at work yesterday and could not make it to the voting center and cast my vote, I was very pleased and impressed after my family told me of their experience in voting. Tight security outside the center kept control over the influx of voters. Their names, as well as mine, were registered from our ration card.
The schoolteachers who were appointed to assist voters were, my dad said, very helpful. From the staggeringly huge number of candidates that were running for these crucial elections, my family decided to go secular, choosing a list that, they believed, was moderate and best represented them.
The whole day went smoothly and effectively, at least in this voting center. At 5pm the nearby mosque announced that the polling center would close at 6pm and urged those who did not vote to go to the center and let their voices be heard.
Abeer Mohammed - East Baghdad - MOVED HOME. DID NOT VOTE.
When I returned home after a tiring day at work my mother was eager to know the winners. As soon as she opened the door her question was “Who won?” I told her “It needs time.”
Election Day is over but my mother was complaining because she could not vote. Because my father got a new job two years ago we moved house. It is a long complicated process to change the details of your ration card, so my parents did not do it. That meant that our polling center was 15 miles from our new home. There was a curfew so they could not drive, and my 51-year-old mother could not walk that distance.
My mother is religious and she was afraid that it might be ‘haraam’ – a breach of religious duty - that she did not vote. She knew that there were many fatwas released by clerics calling on people to participate in the elections.
At dinner she said: “What a loss. Our voices were lost.”
When I went to sleep the images of Election Day rushed to my memory: the level of participation, complaints, winners and losers, electoral problems etc. But my mother’s words were ringing strongly in my mind, raising the question: “What motives made Iraqi people head to the polls?”
Riyadh Mohammed - Central Baghdad - DISPLACED. DID NOT REGISTER.
I didn’t register in advance, so I could not vote. The rest of my family were displaced from west Baghdad because of sectarian violence in 2006 and it would have been very complicated for them as displaced Iraqis to vote. None of them registered and none of them voted. They were all excited about election day, but it was too late.
Mohammed Hussein - West Baghdad - VOTED, WITH DIFFICULTY. (See Live Blog on Election Day)
I walked more than three miles and four polling centers to vote today. I have lived in the same neighborhood for more than 30 years, but my name was not on the list.
At the fourth polling center I found my name, and the the name of a candidate whom I know to be moderate. But I do not know if my terrible trip was worth it: whether it will bring a positive change to this country or we will witness unseen hands interfering to bring destruction again upon our country.
For my wife it is academic. We could not find her name on the list.
Tariq Maher – East Baghdad, MOST OF HIS FAMILY VOTED. HIS BROTHER COULDN’T.
When my family went to the polling center most of their names were on the list. They voted and were happy. They all like Prime Minister Maliki, so they probably voted for his people. One name was not there: my brother Amar, a 25-year-old secular journalist who was very motivated to vote because this was his first time.
He first went to the food distributor store to find out which center he was registered at. As a member of a displaced family that that now lives a long way from our former neighborhood, the owner of the store checked his lists but couldn’t find my brother’s name. So he was sent to the primary registration center to register his name in the voters’ records, which is the first step in the process.
But this station is a 15 mile journey because of all the blast walls and blocked roads. This was a huge problem because of the official curfew, which stopped vehicle transportation all over Baghdad. My brother was frustrated, and went home. Later during the day, he heard from the loudspeakers of Iraqi Army vehicles that Mr. Maliki had issued direct orders to end the curfew. My brother went back to the center only to face another problem, which was the slow processing of the voters.
My brother thought this election was too much trouble and a waste of time. The people whom he met at the polling centers had no idea about the candidates, and were voting for the same old parties and people. I didn’t vote, because I didn’t think there was any suitable candidate.
Jalal al-Jaaf - central Baghdad - FAMILY ALL VOTED.
The morning of Saturday January 31st, 2009 was welcomed eagerly in my neighborhood, a fairly secure neighborhood in the middle of Baghdad. They viewed it as an opportunity where they were able to bring change, and so many locals had volunteered to help the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission in the process. As a voluntary observer with IHEC myself, I could not accompany my family as they headed to the voting center. They later told me that it went very smoothly and without noticeable trouble. They all voted for secular lists and hoped they would win to change the current religious government, as did most of the neighborhood (a very diverse neighborhood of Muslims, Christians and Kurds).
My experience in a voting center west of Baghdad was very different. Almost 35% of the people who came to vote were sent back because their names were not registered in the records. The reason would be that the IHEC relied on the statistics of the old ration cards that were adopted in 2005 and not the renewed ones.
Election Reaction: U.S. Embassy and U.S. Military
By U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and General Ray Odierno on Iraq’s provincial elections
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Multi-National Force – Iraq congratulate the Iraqi people on holding provincial elections today. Voter turnout was large. Iraqi security forces successfully protected millions of Iraqis and enabled them to express their opinions freely in fourteen of Iraq’s governorates.
We congratulate the Iraqi authorities, their security forces and the Iraqi election commission for their careful preparation and administration of these elections.
These elections mark a significant milestone for the people of Iraq, and are a major step forward in Iraq’s democratic development.
**
Even the Virgin Mary had to travel home to (vote)?
People should know this...one thing is for sure, they know it now, and they will know it come the next national elections at the end of the year. People want to vote, should make the necessary arraignments. Just like Mary did.
Across Iraq there were complaints from tens of thousands of people who wanted to vote but were prevented from doing so either because the strict curfew prevented them from reaching their polling center or because when they got there, their names were not on the center’s voter roll.
Part of the problem was caused by the large number of internally displaced Iraqis who no longer live in the province where they are registered to vote. During the sectarian and ethnic fighting of the last several years as many as a million people were displaced. While some have returned home, the majority remain in other provinces. While some updated their voting registration, the majority appear not to have done so.
Despite a lower than expected turnout nationwide few parties said they would file formal complaints or protest the outcome even though many complained that significant numbers of their voters had been prevented from casting their ballots. Most seemed to feel that the addition of those votes either would not substantially affect the outcome.
In Anbar Province the 40% turnout was the lowest in the country, surprisingly for an overwhelmingly Sunni-majority area where most expected voters to come back in from the cold after boycotting or being intimidated away from participation in the 2005 polls.
In the provincial capital Ramadi Omer Abood , a 22-year-old student, said: “I was supposed to vote but I could not. My father and my brother cast their votes. I suggested that I use my food ration card but they did not accept that.” Mustafa al-Dulaimi, 30, a day laborer said he was unable to reach his polling station in the al-Jazeera district, which lies outside Ramadi, because of the curfew.
In nearby Fallujah many repeated the complaints common elsewhere: apathy, cynicism and confusion. Maher Naji, 37, a day laborer, said: “I did not vote because I could not find a qualified candidate that I can trust, all those candidates came for their personal benefits.”
Abu Ahmed Al-Jumaili, 45, a government employee, said: “I went to a polling center in my neighborhood but I did not find my name. I visited more than one, but I didn’t find it.”
Apathy was the reason singled out by Khalil al-Azawi, an adviser to Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of the Iraqi Islamic Party.
“I think the reason for the low turnout in this election is frustration among the people. They participated in the elections hoping that it improve things but the result was that things went backwards,” he said.
“The other reason is a logistical one, which is the impossibility of reaching some polling centers for some people. The low turnout concerns us, as it would any other political party. Any party seeks a high turnout in order to increase its chances of winning.”
Election Reaction: Basra
The day after the elections in Basra, a lot of independent candidates and the more secular ones who were not affiliated with the big religious parties were dismayed and shocked at the widespread irregularities and problems with the voter roll. They felt this deprived them from getting even the slightest representation in the next provincial council.
I sat down with Hatem al-Bachary, a local businessman who heads an 11-candidate slate that was running only in Basra. The slate includes a female candidate, Zeinab Sadiq Jaafar, who had garnered widespread appeal in Basra during the campaigning.
“In the first few hours of voting there was tremendous enthusiasm among our supporters, but many were shocked because their names were not on the register,” said Mr. Bachary.
“They called me from Shatt al-Arab, Zubair, Qurna, Grama, the areas we have weight and most of our supporters were not on the voter register. I do not know, was this programmed or intentional?”
As we spoke a candidate running on Mr. Bachary’s slate called from the Faw Peninsula in the southern tip of the province. He was put on speakerphone. The man was so angry that I could barely make sense of what he was saying.
“We are very upset, 1,200 people could not vote,” shouted the candidate, Ahmed Jassim Othman. Again because of the voter register problems.
I crossed the street to talk to another independent candidate, Awadh al-Abdan, a Sunni Arab running on the slate of the National Dialogue Front, a national party headed by Sunni member of Parliament Saleh al-Mutlaq.
As I sat down with him one of his partisans called from Zubair to complain about the voter register there. “These elections are a charade,” quipped Mr. Abdan.
Although Basra province with its population of about 3.2 million is predominantly Shiite, it has long prided itself for its openness and diversity. It is home to numerous other groups including Sunnis, Christians, Sabeans and even a small black community.
A lot of residents feel that during the past four years Shiite religious parties who dominated the local government were consumed in turf wars among themselves and that this hurt the province in every way. Many independent candidates were running on the platform that if elected they would help moderate the influence of these religious parties, which include the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Fadhila (Virtue) and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party.
Election Turnout: Early Figures
Early turnout percentages released by the Independent High Electoral Commission in Baghdad on Sunday for Iraq’s Provincial Elections on January 31 were:
Total number of registered voters: 14.9 million
Turnout: 7.5 million
Turnout percentage: 51%
Provinces turnout:
Basra: 48%
Maysan: 46%
Dhi Qar: 50%
Muthanna: 61%
Qadisiya: 58%
Najaf: 55%
Anbar: 40%
Salahaddin: 65%
Wasit: 54%
Karbala: 60%
Babel 56%
Diyala: 57%
Nineveh: 60%
Baghdad: awaiting figures from some polling centers– expected 39-40%
Election Reaction: Iraqi Journalists' Experiences
Iraq’s provincial election day went off without serious incident. The atmosphere was peaceful and even celebratory, although there were complaints that many people could not find their names on the electoral lists because of the complexity of the voting system based on Iraq’s ration card system.
We asked Iraqi journalists working for The New York Times in Iraq to tell us about their experience of polling day yesterday, as voters. We will update throughout the day as they get back from working around the city and country to report on the results as they begin to take shape.
NYT stringer in Mosul – HIS FAMILY VOTED.
As a journalist stationed in one voting center, I was not able to vote. It made me very sad at heart that I was sitting out these elections (especially after boycotting the last ones).
After work I rushed to my assigned voting center only to find it long closed. I started blaming myself for not voting before heading to duty. At home, I was overjoyed to see my family’s purple forefingers. I hid my hand in my pocket, slipped to my room and dipped my finger in a bottle of ink. Not out of fear but out of a desire to be part of this great experience.
[I see the answers to the question I posed for the other journalist]
Ali, NYT stringer in Diyala. COULD NOT VOTE. HIS FAMILY VOTED. HIS BROTHER VOTED FOR HIS TEACHER IN RETURN FOR HIGHER MARKS
I have always seen in the ballot containers the magical experience that makes it possible to exchange the power between the individuals and the parties in a peaceful manner. These elections were the start of an important strategy in the world of democracy where everyone is treated equally. In the last elections in 2005, the elections were run with undisclosed lists that later produced corrupt and sectarian elements. This has changed now.
Early morning I started working my way through voting centers to vote for who I think is worthy of the responsibility but though I am a journalist and know the location of almost every voting center in Diyala I was exhausted trying to search through them. Things were quite unorganized. There was a clear lack of coordination within the Independent High Electoral Commission and people, former displaced citizens, were in a state of chaos and confusion. Our names were nowhere to be found. At last, all was revealed, IHEC’s laws and regulations had prevented those citizens from casting their votes because their names were in the provinces where they have fled to. And because of a lack of attention and advertising thousands of citizens, myself included, were denied our right to vote. I was quite sad but did not take it too hard. I told myself that if I did not vote today, there is always tomorrow.
However, my parents were in Baghdad and they got to vote. My father went for the Maliki list because he said it has steered away from religion and was going toward national patriotism, while my mother voted for a female candidate in the secular Iraqia list because she believes that this is the way to save the country from religious extremists. My brother, however, voted for a teacher of his (with the Chalabi list) who offered him extra credits in the finals. When I asked my brother why he did this he answered, “My teacher understands the political process, which is that we, the voters and the candidates, exchange interests. I give him my vote and in return he gives me what I need.”
In a random sample of The New York Times’s other staff in Baghdad: 40% voted, 30% could not reach the right polling station; 14% could not find their names on the lists; 10% of them did not try to vote; 6% of them were uncontactable.
Qassim H.J. - NYT cartoonist in Baghdad. VOTED, WITH NO DIFFICULTY. HALF HIS FAMILY VOTED.
I had no problem voting. I didn’t think I would find many people in my neighborhood taking part because it has been a very troubled one, with much violence. But many people turned out, and I saw no problems.
I voted for a secular list, for someone I know personally and who is qualified and responsible. I do not think he will win, because he is not from one of the big parties. Six of my family voted and the other six did not, because they did not think any of the candidates were suitable for the position, or would change anything.
Atheer Kakan – West Baghdad. FAMILY DISPLACED, DID NOT RE-REGISTER.
My family could not vote because the neighborhood where they are registered is too far away.
They moved from Sulaimaniya to Baghdad in the middle of January for sectarian, political and economic reasons. When they went to the voter registration office in Sulaimaniya it was very crowded and busy. They tried twice and gave up, and never went back again. Because they never updated their registration they could not vote.
Suadad al-Salhy – South of Baghdad. FAMILY ALL VOTED, WITHOUT INCIDENT
I did not vote because I have not found anyone who represents me. My husband feels the same. My parents, brother and sister-in-law all voted, although they had to walk more than two miles to the polling center. It was the first one they went to, so they were lucky.
An Iraqi employee of The New York Times in Najaf. VOTED, WITH DIFFICULTY
After sunrise on Saturday I went on a tour in the main streets on Najaf, as part of my duties as a stringer for The New York Times newspaper. The security forces were all over the place, which gave a sense of security and safety.
However, all did not go well. I had to go to more than three centers looking for my name and my wife’s name.
Finally I found them in a voting center two and a half miles away from where I live. Apparently, we were registered according to what our ration card said in 2005, which was that I lived with my family. Except that I transferred my ration card to another area a year and a half ago.
The problem was that many voters did not bother to go around centers chasing their names, and gave up after visiting one center. This led to the devastating participation rates, which could have gone up if not for this complication.
My wife and I voted for a relatively secular list but here in Najaf where religious lists are more active on the political arena, it is no surprise that a greater percentage of voters went for religious lists.
Abu Ali - Sadr City, Baghdad. VOTED.
A new sunrise told of a new life in the neighborhood of Sadr City. This was not an ordinary morning for me and my family. This was the day my son and I voted for the first time (I did not vote in the 2005 elections for personal reasons, and my son was under 18 year at that time).
I called my son to come and vote with me but he apologized and told me he would go with his friends. Later we met inside the polling center where he told me he voted for a secular list as well. Every once in while, we would hear someone cheering for one list or the other, and so passed the most important day in the life of Iraqis.
Anwar J. Ali – West Baghdad - DISPLACED. DID NOT VOTE.
As a displaced Iraqi family who moved away from Baghdad to Najaf for a period of time, the voting process was as confusing as I had expected.
My husband and I have now moved back to Baghdad and we felt that it was a national duty to cast our votes and we intended to do so. One problem, though, was that our ration card still read ‘Najaf’ from the time we lived there.
After checking with our where the nearest voting center was, we hoped that we would be able to register as voters without having to transfer our ration card from Najaf. When my husband went to check the nearest school, he was turned down after he told the security checkpoint that his ration card read Najaf.
Though my husband and I were disheartened at this news, we were fully aware of the right that the security force had to turn us down, as we felt that it was a necessary and sound movement to protect the integrity of the elections and to prevent forgery.
In the future, we hope to have a developed mechanism that can include all the people living in Baghdad, regardless of where their ration cards are registered.
Sahar S. Gabriel - East Baghdad - FAMILY VOTED WITHOUT INCIDENT.
Though I got tied up at work yesterday and could not make it to the voting center and cast my vote, I was very pleased and impressed after my family told me of their experience in voting. Tight security outside the center kept control over the influx of voters. Their names, as well as mine, were registered from our ration card.
The schoolteachers who were appointed to assist voters were, my dad said, very helpful. From the staggeringly huge number of candidates that were running for these crucial elections, my family decided to go secular, choosing a list that, they believed, was moderate and best represented them.
The whole day went smoothly and effectively, at least in this voting center. At 5pm the nearby mosque announced that the polling center would close at 6pm and urged those who did not vote to go to the center and let their voices be heard.
Abeer Mohammed - East Baghdad - MOVED HOME. DID NOT VOTE.
When I returned home after a tiring day at work my mother was eager to know the winners. As soon as she opened the door her question was “Who won?” I told her “It needs time.”
Election Day is over but my mother was complaining because she could not vote. Because my father got a new job two years ago we moved house. It is a long complicated process to change the details of your ration card, so my parents did not do it. That meant that our polling center was 15 miles from our new home. There was a curfew so they could not drive, and my 51-year-old mother could not walk that distance.
My mother is religious and she was afraid that it might be ‘haraam’ – a breach of religious duty - that she did not vote. She knew that there were many fatwas released by clerics calling on people to participate in the elections.
At dinner she said: “What a loss. Our voices were lost.”
When I went to sleep the images of Election Day rushed to my memory: the level of participation, complaints, winners and losers, electoral problems etc. But my mother’s words were ringing strongly in my mind, raising the question: “What motives made Iraqi people head to the polls?”
Riyadh Mohammed - Central Baghdad - DISPLACED. DID NOT REGISTER.
I didn’t register in advance, so I could not vote. The rest of my family were displaced from west Baghdad because of sectarian violence in 2006 and it would have been very complicated for them as displaced Iraqis to vote. None of them registered and none of them voted. They were all excited about election day, but it was too late.
Mohammed Hussein - West Baghdad - VOTED, WITH DIFFICULTY. (See Live Blog on Election Day)
I walked more than three miles and four polling centers to vote today. I have lived in the same neighborhood for more than 30 years, but my name was not on the list.
At the fourth polling center I found my name, and the the name of a candidate whom I know to be moderate. But I do not know if my terrible trip was worth it: whether it will bring a positive change to this country or we will witness unseen hands interfering to bring destruction again upon our country.
For my wife it is academic. We could not find her name on the list.
Tariq Maher – East Baghdad, MOST OF HIS FAMILY VOTED. HIS BROTHER COULDN’T.
When my family went to the polling center most of their names were on the list. They voted and were happy. They all like Prime Minister Maliki, so they probably voted for his people. One name was not there: my brother Amar, a 25-year-old secular journalist who was very motivated to vote because this was his first time.
He first went to the food distributor store to find out which center he was registered at. As a member of a displaced family that that now lives a long way from our former neighborhood, the owner of the store checked his lists but couldn’t find my brother’s name. So he was sent to the primary registration center to register his name in the voters’ records, which is the first step in the process.
But this station is a 15 mile journey because of all the blast walls and blocked roads. This was a huge problem because of the official curfew, which stopped vehicle transportation all over Baghdad. My brother was frustrated, and went home. Later during the day, he heard from the loudspeakers of Iraqi Army vehicles that Mr. Maliki had issued direct orders to end the curfew. My brother went back to the center only to face another problem, which was the slow processing of the voters.
My brother thought this election was too much trouble and a waste of time. The people whom he met at the polling centers had no idea about the candidates, and were voting for the same old parties and people. I didn’t vote, because I didn’t think there was any suitable candidate.
Jalal al-Jaaf - central Baghdad - FAMILY ALL VOTED.
The morning of Saturday January 31st, 2009 was welcomed eagerly in my neighborhood, a fairly secure neighborhood in the middle of Baghdad. They viewed it as an opportunity where they were able to bring change, and so many locals had volunteered to help the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission in the process. As a voluntary observer with IHEC myself, I could not accompany my family as they headed to the voting center. They later told me that it went very smoothly and without noticeable trouble. They all voted for secular lists and hoped they would win to change the current religious government, as did most of the neighborhood (a very diverse neighborhood of Muslims, Christians and Kurds).
My experience in a voting center west of Baghdad was very different. Almost 35% of the people who came to vote were sent back because their names were not registered in the records. The reason would be that the IHEC relied on the statistics of the old ration cards that were adopted in 2005 and not the renewed ones.
Election Reaction: U.S. Embassy and U.S. Military
By U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and General Ray Odierno on Iraq’s provincial elections
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Multi-National Force – Iraq congratulate the Iraqi people on holding provincial elections today. Voter turnout was large. Iraqi security forces successfully protected millions of Iraqis and enabled them to express their opinions freely in fourteen of Iraq’s governorates.
We congratulate the Iraqi authorities, their security forces and the Iraqi election commission for their careful preparation and administration of these elections.
These elections mark a significant milestone for the people of Iraq, and are a major step forward in Iraq’s democratic development.
**
Even the Virgin Mary had to travel home to (vote)?
People should know this...one thing is for sure, they know it now, and they will know it come the next national elections at the end of the year. People want to vote, should make the necessary arraignments. Just like Mary did.
posted by madtom at 2:47 PM
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