VILNIUS, 12 October 2004 — Legislative polls in the tiny Baltic state of Lithuania, electing its first parliament after joining the EU and NATO, have been carefully watched by Iraqi politicians who face their first free elections in a few months’ time. Thirteen Iraqi politicians from different parties this last weekend used the opportunity to learn from the experience of the country, which had to build democracy from scratch after it broke free from the Soviet Union 13 years ago. Lithuania, which has some 120 troops in the US-led coalition in Iraq, Sunday held the first round of parliamentary elections to its 141-member legislative body. “Although Lithuania and Iraq are different countries, they have something in common. Lithuania suffered from Soviet dictatorship, Iraq is now recovering after the war,” Imad Al Bayati from the Independent Democratic Gathering told AFP. “Lithuania now has a multiparty system, which functions well, and we hope the experience we get here will hopefully help us to implement it in Iraq,” Bayati added.
Elections in Iraq are scheduled for January, 2005. The Iraqi delegation also includes representatives from the Kurdistan Islamic Union, Islamic Democratic Current, Kurdistan’s Women’s Union, Iraqi Democratic Forces and others. The Iraqis came to Lithuania on Wednesday and are to stay here until Oct. 14. They have already met Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, parliamentary speaker Arturas Paulauskas, representatives of Lithuanian political parties and election officials.
They also attended a TV show on the eve of elections and observed election procedures at polling stations in the city of Kaunas and vote counting at the chief election commission in the capital Vilnius Sunday night. The visit is organized and funded by the Baghdad office of the US-based International Republican Institute.
“We are here to look how this new democracy functions and to learn,” Kareem Bilal from the Iraqi Democratic Forces said. “The parties in every country are different as they represent different culture and different traditions, but although different we strive for the same thing - introducing democracy,” he added. Ala Noori Talibani from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, however, said she “was shocked” by the very low representation of women in Lithuanian politics.
“In Iraq, women are given 25 percent quota in the party lists and still are complaining, and here women make only 10-15 percent of party candidates,” she said.
The Iraqi politicians paid much attention to cooperation between the parties. “I saw it unique how two or three parties form a coalition to make a joint list for elections,” Bayati said. “In Iraq where we have more than 150 political parties, using such an experience would be of enormous importance,” he added. Talibani also noted a high level of tolerance among Lithuanian political parties. “We met many politicians and what surprised me was that even those who are likely to lose in the elections, handle everything in a peaceful manner, without creating any problems,” she said.
Zenonas Vaigauskas, head of Lithuania’s chief election commission, told AFP he was moved by the wish of Iraqi politicians to learn all the details of the elections. “We discussed everything - starting from composition of local election commissions to parties ordering voting bulletins,” Vaigauskas said.
“I had an impression that they view Lithuania as a textbook, but the problem is that not everything can be directly transposed as much depends on culture, traditions, voter’s expectations and sometimes - even on the rate of illiteracy,” Vaigauskas added.
