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Voting begins in Iraqi elections

by UK Guardian

Jeremy Lennard and agencies
Friday January 28, 2005
Iraqi expatriates and exiles today cast the first votes in their country's first full election for half a century against a backdrop of continuing violence and intimidation at home.

Australia was the first of 14 countries to open polling stations to its Iraqi population. Those who cast votes were in celebratory mood, dancing in the streets and displaying the blue ink on their fingers that confirmed their participation in the electoral process.

"When I look at the ink on my finger, this is a mark of freedom," Kassim Abood, standing outside a polling booth in Sydney, said.

Elsewhere, the mood among voters was more cautious. In Iraq itself, tough security measures that came into force today were not enough to prevent further insurgent attacks aimed at disrupting the election.

In southern Baghdad, a car bomb exploded next to a police station, killing four Iraqi civilians, police said. Insurgents shelled a US base south of the capital, injuring three US troops and three civilians. The attacks were the latest in a steady stream that has resulted in the deaths of at least 48 Iraqis and seven US troops since Wednesday

Two US soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the capital, one by a roadside bomb in the south of the city and another in a shooting in the north.

US troops and insurgents exchanged fire on Haifa Street, a main Baghdad thoroughfare, and sporadic bursts of gunfire were heard across the city throughout the day.

Iraq sealed its land borders and severely restricted travel between the country's 18 provinces in an attempt to rein in the insurgents' campaign of violence. An extended curfew was announced in most cities, running from 7pm to 6am, and around 300,000 US and Iraqi troops will be on the streets in an effort to enforce order. While the US president, George Bush, has urged Iraqis to "defy the terrorists" and vote, the purported leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, told potential voters to stay away and threatened to escalate attacks on polling stations. His group issued a new internet warning today, telling those intending to vote should stay away from polling stations or risk death or injury in an attack.

"Beware not to approach the centres of atheism and vice," the statement said. "We have warned you, so don't blame us. You only have yourselves to blame."

The militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna also issued a "final warning" to voters yesterday, saying anyone who voted would be marked for death, either during or after the election.

Sunday's vote is the cornerstone of US plans to install democracy in Iraq, but some analysts fear that the further alienation of the country's minority Sunnis, who wielded power under Saddam Hussein, could lead to civil war.

The Shias, who make up 60% of Iraq's population but suffered decades of oppression under Saddam, are expected to win political dominance through the polls.

An alliance of candidates formed under the guidance of Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is almost certain to win the most votes. If this happens, it will be the first time that Shias have wielded political power in a key Arab country.

The elections will determine the make-up of a 275-member national assembly that will appoint Iraq's next government and oversee the drafting of a constitution.

In neighbouring Syria, Jordan and Iran, security around polling stations for Iraqi absentee voters was tight. Police in Amman set up roadblocks and searched every voter with hand-held metal detectors.

Many administrators and voters appeared nervous. Most refused to have their picture taken, and would not give their names to reporters. Many Iraqi exiles did not register for fear of persecution, both of themselves and their families still living in Iraq, election officials said.

In Iran, which has one of the largest groups of Iraqi expatriates, and where 75% of those eligible have registered to vote, there were long queues outside Tehran's Karbalaies Mosque, built by Iraqis from the holy Shia city of Karbala.

Voting in Iran holds particular significance. Many of Iraq's Arab neighbours are concerned that the country's Shia majority will elect a government that will strengthen ties with the Shia clerics that rule Iran.

In London, several dozen voters had arrived at the Wembley Conference Centre within minutes of the polling station doors opening at 7am.

One of the first to vote, Handren Marph, a 45-year-old Kurdish marketing consultant from Croydon, said: "This is a fantastic feeling. I feel hope and fear - fear because freedom might not come back, but hope because a new constitution may give us protection and opportunity for all."

Around 280,000 overseas Iraqis have registered to vote, a lower number than had been expected. Around 13 million Iraqis inside the country are eligible to cast their ballots.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1400771,00.html
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