Historic Iraqi election and reaction of the Arab world!
Four articles contained bellow are;
01 - Iraqis Brave Attacks; Voter Turnout High
02 - Expat Iraqis Head to Polls Around World
03 - Arabs Closely Follow Iraqi Election
04 - Arabs Mesmerized by Iraqi Elections
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World - AP
Iraqis Brave Attacks; Voter Turnout High
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis defied violence and calls for a boycott to cast ballots their first free election in a half-century Sunday. Insurgents seeking to wreck the vote struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including nine attackers.
Women in black abayas whispered prayers at the sound of a nearby explosion as they waited to vote at one Baghdad polling station. But the mood for many was upbeat: Civilians and policemen danced with joy at one of the five polling stations where photographers were allowed, and some streets were packed with voters walking shoulder-to-shoulder to vote. The elderly made their way, hobbling on canes or riding wheelchairs; one elderly woman was pushed along on a wooden cart, another man carried a disabled 80-year-old on his back.
"This is democracy," said Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted.
Officials said turnout among the 14 million eligible voters appeared higher than the 57 percent that had been predicted, although it would be some time before any turnout figure was confirmed. No preliminary results were expected before Monday at the earliest, and final results will not be known for seven to 10 days, the election commission said.
Polls were largely deserted all day in many cities of the Sunni Triangle north and west of the capital, particularly Fallujah, Ramadi and Beiji. In Baghdad's mainly Sunni Arab area of Azamiyah, the neighborhood's four polling centers did not open at all, residents said.
A low Sunni turnout could undermine the new government that will emerge from the vote and worsen tensions among the country's ethnic, religious and cultural groups.
In a reminder of the dangers that persist in Iraq, a British C-130 military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad about a half hour after polls closed at 5 p.m. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has confirmed that there were British deaths in the crash, but did not say how many. There was no word on the cause or how many people were on board, but variations of the C-130 in the British Air Force can carry up to 128 infantrymen.
President Bush declared the vote a success "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," he said, praising Iraqis for rejecting "the anti-democratic ideology of the terrorists. They have refused to be intimidated by thugs."
Casting his vote, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it "the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny."
With Arabs across the Middle East watching the vote, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak telephoned Allawi to congratulate him on the election, saying he hoped it would "open the way for the restoration of calm and stability." The president of the United Arab Emirates also phoned his good wishes.
Prominent Iraqi Sunni politician Adnan Pachachi, who in recent months had called for the vote to be postponed because of violence, told CNN he was "relieved" and "encouraged" by a turnout he said was better than expected, even in Fallujah and Mosul.
Shiite Muslims, estimated at 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people, were expected to vote in large numbers, encouraged by clerics who hope their community will gain power after generations of oppression by the Sunni minority.
After a slow start, voting appeared heavy in Shiite and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad but low in some heavily Sunni areas. Sunnis in mixed areas may have voted in greater numbers there because pressure to boycott was less intense — and chances of retaliation lower because they would not stand out at the polls. There are few ways by sight to distinguish Sunni and Shiite Arabs.
Hadi Nassif Jassem was pushed by his son on a wheeled office chair to a polling station in Baghdad's Saadoun neighborhood.
"The vote today was great. It will raise high the name of the Arab nation and Iraq. We haven't lived such a democracy for 50 years," said the 54-year-old former truck driver, who said he became crippled because surgery he needed could not be done in Iraq.
The election will create a 275-member National Assembly and 18 provincial legislatures. The assembly will draw up the country's permanent constitution and will select a president and two deputy presidents, who in turn will name a new prime minister and Cabinet to serve for 11 months until new elections are held.
The vote is a major test of Bush's goal of promoting democracy in the Middle East. If successful, it also could hasten the day when the United States brings home its 150,000 troops. More than 1,400 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, including a Marine killed in combat Sunday in Iraq's restive Anbar province.
Guerrilla attacks began within two hours of the balloting's start Sunday morning. All but one of the day's nine suicide attacks came in Baghdad, mostly against polling sites, using bombers on foot with explosives strapped to their bodies since private cars were banned from the streets.
In one of the deadliest attacks of the day, a bomber got onto a minibus carrying voters to the polls near Hillah, south of Baghdad, and detonated his explosives, killing himself and at least four other people, the Polish military said.
A deadly mortar volleys hit Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City and others struck voters at several sites in Balad, and Kirkuk in the north and Mahawil south of the capital. Across the country, at least 35 people and nine suicide bombers were killed.
The group al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for election-day attacks in a Web statement, although the claim could not be verified.
A few hours after polls closed at 5 p.m., thunderous explosions reverberated through central Baghdad, though their cause was unknown.
Concern over violence was rife as voters entered polling stations under loops of razor wire and the watchful eye of rooftop sharpshooters. About 300,000 Iraqi and American troops were on the streets and on standby to protect voters
When an unexplained boom sounded near one Baghdad voting station, some women put their hands to their mouths and whispered prayers. Others continued walking calmly to the voting stations. Several shouted in unison: "We have no fear."
"Am I scared? Of course I'm not scared. This is my country," said 50-year-old Fathiya Mohammed, wearing a head-to-toe abaya cloak.
In Ramadi, U.S. troops tried to coax voters with loudspeakers, preaching the importance of every ballot. The governor of the mostly Sunni province of Salaheddin, Hamad Hmoud Shagti, went on the radio to lobby for a higher turnout. "This is a chance for you as Iraqis to assure your and your children's future," he said.
Several hundred people turned out to vote in eastern districts of the heavily Sunni city of Mosul — Iraq's third largest city and a center for insurgent violence in past months. But in western parts of Mosul, clashes erupted between guerrillas and Iraqi soldiers.
Just before the close, one official with the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq put turnout at 72 percent, but he later said that did not include the largely Sunni provinces of Anbar and Nineveh, and the commission said the figure was based on "very rough, word-of-mouth estimates."
A ticket endorsed by the country's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is expected to fare best among the 111 candidate lists. However, no faction is expected to win an outright majority, meaning possibly weeks of political deal-making before a new prime minister is chosen.
The elections will also give Kurds a chance to gain more influence in Iraq after long years of marginalization under the Baath Party that ruled the country for 34 years.
"This proves that we are now free," said Akar Azad, 19, who came to the polls with his wife and sister. In addition to the assembly and provincial votes, Kurds are also choosing a regional parliament for their zone of northern Iraq.
Iraqis in 14 nations also held the last of three days of overseas balloting on Sunday.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Sunday's balloting "the first step" toward democracy. "It's a beginning, not an end," he said.
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World - AP
Expat Iraqis Head to Polls Around World
Sun Jan 30,12:22 PM ET World - AP
By MICHAEL McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Iraqis around the world streamed into polling stations Sunday for their last chance to cast ballots in Iraq's historic election, expressing hopes that the vote will bring peace and stability to their homeland.
As millions of people in Iraq defied insurgent threats and voted in their nation's first independent election in five decades, Sunday also marked the third and final day of absentee voting in 14 other countries.
"This is a clear and loud message that Iraqis inside and outside are united in defeating terrorism," Mansour Ibrahim said as he entered a voting center amid tight security in the upscale Suwfiya neighborhood in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Scuffles broke out between voters and anti-U.S. protesters at a polling station Sunday in Britain and voting was extended at one site in Australia to make up for lost time after a similar skirmish the day before.
But no major violence was reported and organizers said the three-day balloting that started Friday has been a success so far, despite early concerns about turnout after only 25 percent of 1.2 eligible Iraqis abroad registered to vote.
The low registration figure was attributed partly to fears of violence and retribution from insurgents but also the fact that not all countries with large numbers of Iraqis, including Egypt, participated and many voters had to travel abroad to register and then again to vote.
Many Iraqis in the United States had to drive hundreds of miles to reach the five cities with polling places: Nashville, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington.
Most of those who did sign up were thrilled at the chance to participate. The latest available figures showed that about two-thirds of those who did sign up had cast ballots in the first two days.
The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration, which is conducting the expatriate vote for Iraq's electoral commission, said 186,619 of the 280,303 registered Iraqis went to the polls Friday and Saturday, many traveling long distances.
"Everything is proceeding well, everyone is terribly excited about these historic elections," said Sarah Fradgley, an IOM spokeswoman in London. "Everyone is anxiously waiting for news from Iraq and people have been speaking to their families in Baghdad and elsewhere."
Fistfights broke out at a polling station in Manchester, northern England, between mostly Kurdish-Iraqi voters and dozens of protesters who claimed the elections legitimize the U.S.-led coalition's presence in Iraq, Sky News TV reported.
Sky News showed footage of police breaking up the fights, but reported no arrests and no serious injuries. A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police described the skirmish as "a minor incident," which officers had brought under control.
Jubilant voters at a voting center in Wembley, northwest London, danced and held up Kurdish flags.
But police said they arrested one person for threatening behavior and about 50 demonstrators protesting the elections waved banners and shouted slogans in Arabic.
"This process isn't going to deliver a representative government," said Qasim Khawaja, one of the protesters and a spokesman for radical Muslim group Hizb Ut Tahrir.
In Berlin hundreds of Iraqi expatriates arrived by the busload to take part in the voting.
"It is the first time we've been allowed to vote. For us, for our lives, it is very important," said Rana Al-Mudhaffar, 52, who left Iraq in 1980. She and her 24-year-old daughter, Sana, traveled three hours from the eastern state of Thuringia to cast ballots. "We're hoping a democratic government will bring peace and stability to Iraq."
In Australia, voting was extended by a half hour on Saturday and Sunday at a polling station after skirmishes pitting largely Shiite Iraqi voters against protesters identified as fundamentalists and a bomb scare closed it for an hour on Saturday.
In Iran, Ala Nariman, 33, cast her vote to help ensure Iraq's Shiite majority would be well represented in the new government — which is widely expected to be the case. But she said Shiite clerics should not intervene in politics, as fears have been raised in the West and in the Arab world that Iraq will ally itself with Iran's Shiite theocracy.
"They have to avoid the Iranian model of government," she said. "It would be better for all."
Countries hosting the vote were Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
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Associated Press Writers Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, David Rising in Berlin, Germany and Salah Nasrawi in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Iraq Out-of-Country Voting:
http://www.iraqocv.org
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World - AP
Arabs Closely Follow Iraqi Election
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A young man in a Saudi cafe worries that Iraq's elections could lead to civil war. On the banks of the Nile, a student strolling with his girlfriend dismisses the polls as an American sham. Yemeni students, chewing their mildly stimulating khat leaves, express hope the United States will pressure other tyrannical regimes to change.
The Arab world paid close attention to Sunday's polling in Iraq, which has major implications for the entire region.
The Iraq vote will almost certainly bring to power the country's long-suppressed Shiite Muslims, boosting the sect's influence in this Sunni Muslim-dominated area and worrying countries with Shiite minorities.
It also will mean a success for Washington's drive to bring democracy to Iraq — a precedent that could shake up the autocratic Arab world.
"Arab governments may not say it, but they don't want Iraq's democratic experiment to succeed," said Turki al-Hamad, a prominent Saudi columnist and former political science professor. "Such a success would embarrass them and present them with the dilemma of either changing or being changed."
Arabs had mixed feelings about the poll. Many said U.S. involvement reinforced their distrust.
"This election is an American movie made to convince Iraqis to go to the polls so that the United States will stay in Iraq and control its oil," said Jordanian Mohammed Fakhri, 28, owner of a mobile phone shop. "There will be ... a government with Iraqi stooges serving U.S. and Israeli interests."
An Egyptian flower vendor who gave her name only as Um Abdel Rahman dismissed the poll as "a sedative for the people. Democracy is just a decoration."
Wouldn't she like to participate in free elections? "Women speak their minds all the time. I don't need to vote," she said.
However, others hoped the poll would be a catalyst for a regionwide democratic push.
The elections are a "good omen for getting rid of dictatorship," Yemeni political science student Fathi al-Uraiqi said, chewing khat with friends. "But I hope America is not driven by its own interests but by a genuine desire to spread democracy in the rest of the region."
The rise of Iraq's Shiite community was of major interest to their Shiite brethren in neighboring Saudi Arabia — and a concern to the kingdom's leadership. The Shiite minority in the country, centered in its Eastern Province, has long complained of discrimination.
"People are glued to their TV screens" in al-Qatif and Ihsaa, Shiite-dominated towns in Eastern Province, said Muhammad Mahfouz, a Shiite editor of a cultural magazine.
Shiite clergy prayed for smooth and safe elections during special services held Saturday for Ghadeer, a day marking what Shiites believe was the prophet Muhammad's naming of his son-in-law Ali as his successor.
Some of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors have expressed fears a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq could join with Iran to form a Shiite crescent, threatening traditional Sunni dominance of the region and inspiring potential political claims by other Shiites.
The columnist al-Hamad, who lives in the Eastern Province, said a Shiite government in Iraq will give Saudi Shiites "the confidence to lobby more persistently for those rights."
But they "are not demanding self-rule or an alliance with Iran. They just want rights that citizens in any country expect," he said.
Arab intellectuals, politicians and writers differed over whether the elections would provide a good example for democratic reform in a region where free and fair elections are rare and human rights groups operate with difficulty.
Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki said the election was a step forward, but added that Iraq, with its unstable security situation, was a "model to be avoided."
Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt said the polls can only be judged after the results come out. But so far they've proven "a bizarre model," with candidates campaigning furtively for fear of insurgent attacks and Sunni Muslims boycotting the process.
Writing in Beirut's Al-Anwar newspaper, political analyst Rafik Khoury said Arab governments who have criticized shortcomings of Iraq's elections, demanding that they be "honest and transparent ... themselves ban such elections for their own peoples."
An Egyptian student, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, openly spoke about not trusting U.S. intentions in Iraq, saying the new Iraqi ruler "will be a follower of America."
But when asked if democracy can grow in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak is widely expected to seek a fifth term in power, the 20-year-old looked over his shoulder and said:
"Let's talk about Iraq. Let's stay away from talking about Egypt."
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World - AP
Arabs Mesmerized by Iraqi Elections
Sun Jan 30,11:59 AM ET World - AP
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A young man smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee in a Saudi cafe worries that Iraq (news - web sites)'s elections could lead to civil war. On the banks of the Nile, a student strolling with his girlfriend dismisses the polls as a sham meant to place a pro-American government in Iraq. Yemenis, chewing their mildly stimulating khat leaves, express hope the United States will pressure other tyrannical regimes to change.
The Arab world is anything but indifferent to Sunday's polling in Iraq, which has dual implications for the restive region. It will almost certainly bring to power Iraq's long-suppressed Shiite Muslims, boosting the sect's influence in this Sunni Muslim-dominated area. It also will mean Washington has succeeded in bringing democracy to Iraq by force — at least for the moment — a precedent that could shake up the autocratic Arab world.
"Arab governments may not say it, but they don't want Iraq's democratic experiment to succeed," said Turki al-Hamad, a prominent Saudi columnist and former political science professor. "Such a success would embarrass them and present them with the dilemma of either changing or being changed."
Arabs were of mixed feelings about the poll. Many said U.S. involvement reinforced their distrust.
"This election is an American movie made to convince Iraqis to go to the polls so that the United States will stay in Iraq and control its oil," said Jordanian Mohammed Fakhri, 28, owner of a mobile phones shop. "There will be ... a government with Iraqi stooges serving U.S. and Israeli interests."
A veiled Egyptian flower vendor who gave her name only as Um Abdel Rahman dismissed the poll as "a sedative for the people. Democracy is just a decoration."
Wouldn't she like to participate in free elections? "Women speak their minds all the time. I don't need to vote," she said.
However others hoped the poll would be a catalyst for a region-wide democratic push.
The elections are a "good omen for getting rid of dictatorship," Yemeni political science student Fathi al-Uraiqi said, chewing khat with friends. "But I hope America is not driven by its own interests but by a genuine desire to spread democracy in the rest of the region."
Mohammed al-Omran, a 21-year-old Saudi coffee shop manager, said the Shiites should be fair if they want to prevent the situation in Iraq from dissolving into civil war or partition.
"Saddam Hussein was hated because he persecuted (the Shiites). They should not do the same," he said, as he sipped coffee and smoked cigarettes.
Interest was high among Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, who have long complained of discrimination.
"People are glued to their TV screens" in al-Qatif and Ihsaa, Shiite-dominated towns in the oil-rich Eastern Province, said Muhammad Mahfouz, a Shiite editor of a cultural magazine.
Clergymen used special services Saturday for Ghadeer Day, which marked the Prophet Muhammad's nomination of his son-in-law Ali as his successor, to pray for smooth and safe elections, he said.
Some of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors have expressed fears a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq could join with Iran to form a Shiite crescent, threatening traditional Sunni dominance of the region and inspiring potential political claims by other Shiites.
Al-Hamad, who lives in the Eastern Province, said Saudi Arabia will only fear a Shiite government in Iraq if it allies itself with Iran, which had called for exporting its 1979 Islamic Revolution beyond its borders.
A Shiite government in Iraq will not inspire unrest among the kingdom's Shiites, he said.
"They are not demanding self-rule or an alliance with Iran. They just want rights that citizens in any country expect," he said. "A Shiite government in Iraq will give them the confidence to lobby more persistently for those rights."
Arab intellectuals, politicians and writers differed over whether the elections would provide a good example for democratic reform in a region in which free and fair elections are rare and human rights groups operate with difficulty.
Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki said the election was a step forward, but added that Iraq, with its unstable security situation, was a "model to be avoided."
Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt said the polls can only be judged after the results come out. But so far they've proven "a bizarre model," with candidates campaigning furtively for fear of insurgent attacks and Sunni Muslims boycotting the process.
Writing in Beirut's Al-Anwar newspaper, political analyst Rafik Khoury said Arab governments who have criticized shortcomings of Iraq's elections, demanding that they be "honest and transparent ... themselves ban such elections for their own peoples."
"If the future promised by the elections appears confusing, are the Iraqis supposed to bet on the future that the executioners promise them?" he said, refering to insurgents.
The Egyptian student, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, openly spoke about not trusting U.S. intentions in Iraq, saying the new Iraqi ruler "will be a follower of America."
But when asked if democracy can grow in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak is widely expected to seek a fifth term in power, the 20-year-old looked over his shoulder and said:
"Let's talk about Iraq. Let's stay away from talking about Egypt."
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