BAGHDAD, 16 December 2005 — Undeterred by scattered violence, Iraqis voted in overwhelming numbers in national election yesterday, with minority Sunni Arabs who boycotted the last poll determined not to miss out on power again.
Turnout in 10 hours of voting was at least 10 million, or 67 percent, Election Commission chief Hussein Hendawi said, much higher than the 58 percent who voted in the previous election on Jan. 30.
The demand to vote was so strong that polling stations were kept open an extra hour to allow those waiting in line to cast ballots. In Saddam Hussein’s home province more than 80 percent of voters turned out, an electoral official said.
A top official said at least three polling stations in the Sunni town of Fallujah ran out of ballots. Fallujah Mayor Dari Abdul Hadi told reporters there had been several administrative problems, including some polling stations not getting enough ballot boxes or ballots. “Some sites ran out of ballots in the early hours of the morning,” he said, adding that Iraq’s independent Electoral Commission was responsible for not having provided enough materials.
Bitter at the power exercised this year by an interim Parliament of Shiite Islamists and Kurds, Sunni militants defended polling stations in cities like Ramadi against Al-Qaeda and other groups who vowed to disrupt the vote.
“Sunni Arabs made a big mistake in boycotting the last election. It left us out of... writing the constitution,” said Talal Ali, 25, as he voted for the first time in Kirkuk. He backed one of the main Sunni lists which wants to amend the constitution, agreed two months ago, that Sunnis say could hand Kirkuk’s oil riches to independence-minded Kurds and give Shiites control over the southern oilfields.
The largely peaceful vote, which will raise US hopes that a stable government can pave the way for American troops to eventually pull out of Iraq, was in sharp contrast to January’s election for an interim assembly, when 40 people died. Sunni Arabs mostly boycotted that poll but took part with determination and enthusiasm yesterday, backed by nationalist rebels who vowed to protect voters.
In Fallujah turnout touched 70 percent, local officials said, and in Kurdish regions and the Shiite south it was also high.
There was a range of complaints about voting irregularities, and allegations flew about attempts to influence the vote in some northern cities, but overall the process went smoothly, the Electoral Commission said in Baghdad.
“I’m delighted to be voting for the first time because this election will lead to American occupation forces leaving,” said Jamal Mahmoud, 21, in the battle-scarred Sunni city of Ramadi.
Polls closed shortly after 6 p.m. and counting began immediately. As electoral workers opened each ballot box they said a quick prayer. Definitive results are not expected for two weeks or more, the Electoral Commission said.
United Nations envoy Ashraf Jehangir Qazi was pleased. “All in all it was a good day and a historic day,” he said. The US ambassador in Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, was also impressed. “The turnout has been dramatically higher,” he said.
Informal polling by Reuters around the country showed the ruling Shiite Islamist Alliance and their Kurdish allies still dominant in their southern and northern bases respectively.
But there also seemed to be a strong turnout in favor of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who heads a secular slate with candidates from across Iraq’s sectarian divides. He has sought to split the previously dominant Islamist Shiite vote.
While voting went well generally, two people were killed in mortar attacks in Mosul and Tal Afar in the north and three, including a US Marine, were wounded when a mortar round landed in Baghdad’s Green Zone as polls opened at 7 a.m.
US diplomats hope that if Sunnis are drawn into the political process, the revolt will be undermined, letting Iraqis gradually take over security without provoking a civil war.
Once a government is formed, which could take weeks, the first task of the new Parliament is to address Sunni grievances over the constitution, passed with Shiite and Kurdish votes in a referendum. Another challenge is building up Iraqi security forces so foreign troops can go home.
While those battles lie ahead, there was hope of a better future among voters yesterday.
In Baghdad, Shiite Hadi Mishaal, wounded in the 1991 Gulf War and forced by the traffic ban to hobble 2 km (over a mile) on a crutch to vote with his wife, said: “I hope we can have a government that will help me and give me my rights.” In Kirkuk, 60-year-old Sunni Arab Ismael Nouri said: “It is the first time I have tasted the freedom to express my view.”
The White House called it “a historic day for the advance of freedom” and said it was encouraged by the voter turnout. “”The Iraqi people are showing the world that all people — of all backgrounds — want to be able to choose their own leaders and live in freedom,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said.
