Iraqi expatriates celebrate election

By Mohammed al-Qaisi in Baghdad
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-03-23

[Berthold Stadler/AFP/Getty Images] An election official helps an elderly Iraqi woman cast her ballot in Berlin.

With the final results of the parliamentary election due this week, Iraqis are still talking about going to the ballot boxes and voting for their candidates.

The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) provided polling stations and instructional courses in 16 different countries for the thousands of expatriate Iraqis who voted March 5th-7th.

Saad al-Abdli, director of overseas elections for the IHEC, said, "The high turnout by Iraqis who live abroad was an important element in the election's success. They will constitute an important aspect in changing the results of the Iraqi election in general."

According to IHEC statistics, more than 280,000 Iraqis went to the polls in Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Holland, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

In a statement to Al-Shorfa, al-Abdli added, "The election turned into real a celebration. Some of those who came preferred to stay in the centre for as long as possible even after they voted."

IHEC opened 119 centres with 602 polling stations around the world.

Al-Abdli said there were 164 international observers, 373 local observers, and 4,174 representatives of competing political entities, "something that gave major transparency to the electoral process."

Faisal Farhan, 60, an Iraqi residing in Syria, said, "When I look at the ink that is still marked on my finger, I do not want to wipe it off."

"Although two weeks have passed since the election, I consider the ink to be a sign indicating freedom. I did not think that I would live to see that moment," Farhan told Al-Shorfa.

Saad Nassir, 30, an Iraqi living in Beirut, said, "In spite of the difficult conditions that the country has been through because of terrorism, the election came to prove to the world that Iraqis are always looking for the best. Their selection of candidates is proof that they are going toward reconstruction and building, and toward a new, free, and independent Iraq."

Sahar al-Ubaidi, an IHEC official, said, "Voter turnout was good. About 90% of Iraqis who registered their names in voter lists before the start of the poll voted."

"The festive atmosphere was clear during the electoral process for Iraqi expatriates," al-Ubaidi told Al-Shorfa. "Many of them carried Iraqi flags, and were exchanging words of joy and congratulations on the practice of democracy that they have been denied for many decades."

Haidar Abd Allawi, director of the Iraqi election office in Syria, said in an interview with Al-Shorfa, "The polling centres in Syria were crowded, which made election employees arrange the citizens in long queues so that the polling stations would not be overcrowded."

Meanwhile, Iraqi voters danced in the streets of Sydney, Australia, "boastfully showing the blue ink on their fingers, indicating that they participated in the election," said Hadeel Ali, a member of the Iraqi election monitoring committee there.

Mansour al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi residing in Sweden, said, "We felt that we still belong to Iraq and that we are required to enter into the battle against terrorism, extremism and dictatorship for the sake of freedom and democracy."

"This is the reason that made us all go to the polling station. Even my children insisted on going," he added.

Dhafir Taha, an Iraqi citizen residing in Turkey, said, "I never dreamt of such a day and it is hard to believe that Iraqis now have the ability to freely choose and to be partners in the decision."

Bookmarking

Please comment on this article so that we can improve the experience of viewing this website.