Terrorist Bombs in a Free Iraq Cannot Stop the Voting

Iraq held its national voting for the country’s crucial parliamentary election yesterday, amid multiple mortar attacks and bombings mainly in the capital Baghdad which left at least 37 dead. The election is regarded as a test for the country’s national reconciliation and political process.

This is the second national poll since the U.S.-led intervention toppled the tyrannical Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. It is a crucial election as the country is restoring peace after years of dictatorship, fear and violence.

Thanks to the efforts made by the Bush administration and the policies and roadmap established after the successful surge in 2007, around 19 million voters, including 1.4 million abroad, were set to elect yesterday a 325-seat Council of Representatives out of some 6, 300 candidates, representing 12 major coalitions of parties and dozens of other political entities. There were 50,000 stations across the country.

The parliament will have one quarter of its members women according to the law. Women are expected to play a more constructive role in the country after their experience in the past four years.

There were more than 494,000 local and international observers, according to the Independent High Electoral Commission. The number included about 500 to 600 international observers, according to the United Nations.

At around 7 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) when the voting began, Iraqi President Talal Talabani entered a voting center in his hometown of northern Sulaimaniyah Province. He was one of the first to vote on Sunday. The voting ended at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) local time.

“I congratulate the great Iraqi people and I call on them to take part in this crucial election which will determine the fate of democracy in Iraq,” said Talabani after casting his vote. “I wish the success for the Iraqi people with this election.”

In a polling center in the heavily fortified Green Zone in downtown Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki cast his vote. He leads the “State of Law” coalition to contest the election.

“In my opinion this election will lead to a change in the Iraqi political map, and I believe that the change process has started since the 2009 January provincial elections,” Maliki told reporters.

“Today the change process will be achieved in the direction that would lead to a stable government and parliament. This will reflect the situation in Iraq and the relations of Iraq with its Arab neighbors and in the international arena,” he said.

“I can see that Iraqis realize the significance of their voices despite terrorist attacks aimed at preventing them from participating in the elections,” said the prime minister.

“My knowledge about Iraqis is that whenever there is a challenge, there is persistence,” Maliki told media in the Green Zone. Eligible Iraqis showed a great interest in the voting. Other provinces also saw high turnout of voters despite attacks.

Up to 667,000 voters in the Sunni-dominated Salahudin province poured into polling centers to elect 22 lawmakers out of 303 candidates to represent the province.

Early on Sunday morning, the turnout was low as some mortar rounds hit the cities of Samarra and Baiji, along with roadside bombs in other areas, wounding three electoral observers from a political bloc. But later more voters went to the polls.

Bombs, mortar rounds and rocket attacks killed 37 people and wounded dozens of others in the capital Baghdad though the Iraqi government mobilized around 1 million security forces and other personnel to protect the election.

In the bloodiest incident Sunday, 25 people were killed and 19 others wounded when a mortar round struck a residential building in Baghdad’s northeastern neighborhood of Ur, said an Interior Ministry source.

Ayad Allawi, former prime minister and head of the Iraqia List, said he expected the mortar attacks will have opposite impacts and Iraqis are determined to go to the voting boxes.

“Today is a turning point for Iraq … because Iraqis have got fed up with deterioration in security, stability, basic services and economy,” Allawi said.

Since al-Maliki took office in May 2006, Iraqis have experienced a surge of sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007, which left tens of thousands dead, then a serious political crisis with a boycott against the government, and a resurge of violence since the end of last June.

Most Iraqis say they have become tired of sectarian violence and are eager for a normal life with improved basic services.

No boycott among voters occurs, despite a temporary withdrawal of the National Dialogue Front led by banned candidate Salah al- Mutlak Mutalaq.

However, the ban on some Sunni politicians from running in the election over alleged links to the outlawed Baath party is still likely to increase uncertainties after the election.

Different from the 2005 parliamentary election, most of the major political coalitions contesting this year’s election are cross-sectarian on the surface. Nationalism is a common campaign slogan.

A substantial consensus among different blocs on a number of issues is the key to the restoration of peace and stability of the country. Seven years after the U.S. intervention, Iraq is moving forward democracy. President Bush, his administration and the American troops cannot be forgotten today.

The Americano / Agencies

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