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| Iraq |
| Iraqi turnout set at 70% |
| 2005-12-22 |
| Seventy percent of registered Iraqi voters went to the polls during last week's election, the highest participation in a vote since the fall of Saddam Hussein, according to preliminary turnout figures released by the Iraqi electoral commission on Wednesday. In all, 10.9 million of 15.6 million registered voters cast ballots across Iraq on Dec. 15 for a new four-year government, with a strong showing even in Anbar Province, the heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency. The overall turnout this time was considerably higher than the 58 percent in January, when Sunni Arabs largely boycotted the vote for a transitional assembly. It was also higher than the 63 percent figure during the October constitutional referendum, which had greater Sunni Arab participation than the election before it. By comparison, turnout in the 2004 presidential election in the United States was slightly over 58 percent of registered voters. Iraqi electoral officials warned that the current figures could still change, either up or down. As of Wednesday, the commission was looking into more than 1,200 complaints of possible fraud or irregularity. In Baghdad, for instance, the commission is scrutinizing 5,100 ballots that were cast for the main Shiite religious coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance. The overall turnout figure accounts for 95 percent of the votes. The other five percent is being investigated for irregularities or has not yet been processed. In Anbar, where violence is rampant, turnout was 55 percent, but only slightly more than half of the votes have been reported so far. Of the 10.9 million total votes processed, about 123,000 were ruled invalid and 54,000 were blank, the commission said. Turnout in Anbar was one of the big questions surrounding this election. In January, turnout was a mere 1 percent there; it rose to 32 percent in October. Some residents said in October that they had wanted to vote in the referendum, but feared retribution by insurgents. A split in insurgent groups emerged right before the December elections. Some groups said they would not attack polling stations or harm voters. Many Sunni Arab clerics in Anbar and elsewhere told their congregations to vote, in order to allow the Sunnis to retake some measure of power in the government. But the most militant group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, denounced the elections and threatened voters with death. In November, members of the group seized a prominent Sunni politician in Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital, and killed him. Other well-known candidates of his party were killed as they campaigned in Anbar. The higher turnout could be partly due to a new security system the American military and Iraqi officials put in place for the vote. The American and Iraqi officials agreed to allow tribal leaders in Ramadi to guard the polling stations, rather than the Iraqi Army and police. The surge in Sunni Arab participation raises several crucial questions. Are the Sunni Arabs committed to building a unified Iraq and to compromising with the religious Shiites and Kurds? Or are they trying to enter the government with the intent of sabotaging its operations from within? And will the Shiites and Kurds trust the Sunni Arabs enough or find enough common ground with them to invite them into the government? On Wednesday, Sunni Arab leaders met with officials from the coalition of Ayad Allawi, the former prime minister, to present a united front to contest the early results. Since Monday, when the first set of numbers was released, Sunni Arab parties and Mr. Allawi's candidates have been accusing the main religious Shiite coalition of voter fraud. The numbers showed the religious Shiites taking a strong lead, even in the mixed city of Baghdad. Here, the Shiites got 58 percent of the vote. Sunni Arabs are widely believed to make up a fifth of Iraq's population, yet many of them claim they are the majority in this country. That line of thought could help explain their anger over the results. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 EP, trailing daughter #1 is looking forward to voting Republican in the next Presidential election; trailing daughter #2 thinks of Democrats like she thinks of Canadians -- they can say anything they please because nothing they say matters anyway. And statistically, among the 18-24 year old voters, only the most thoughtful (and the idealistic ones these days think of themselves as Conservative) actually bother to vote. I find this quite comforting. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-12-22 23:19 |
| #2 Average turnout for American Presidential elections hovers around 50-52% of registered voters last I checked. Midterm election turnout hovers below the pitiful 40%. America needs a wake up call. Please register to vote and encourage friends and relatives to register to vote and actually go to the polls if you haven't already! Preaching done for the day. EP |
| Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-12-22 11:42 |
| #1 Turnout % by Governate Dhouk 86.87% Erbil 76.97% Sulaymania 82.86% Ninewa 62.40% Kirkuk 75.62% Diyala 71.40% Anbar 55.13% Baghdad 63.39% Babil 75.24% Karbala 69.87% Wasit 67.20% Salahaddeen 88.37% Najaf 70.68% Qadissiya 63.96% Muthana 65.46% Theqar 71.12% Misan 72.45% Basrah 73.41% Total 69.97% |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-12-22 11:32 |