BAGHDAD, 31 January 2005 — Iraqis braved bombs and voted in their millions in Iraq’s first free election in half a century yesterday. Insurgents made good their promise of turning the election into a bloodbath. Nine of their suicide bombers killed at least 35 people.
Women in abayas whispered prayers at the sound of a nearby explosion as they waited to vote at one Baghdad polling station. But the mood elsewhere was triumphant, with long lines in many places in the city: civilians and policemen danced with joy outside one site, and some streets were packed with voters walking shoulder-to-shoulder toward polling centers.
“This is democracy,” said Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted.
But polls were largely deserted throughout the 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. In Samarra, north of Baghdad, stations were empty for hours, but later hundreds of people showed up.
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.
Farid Ayar, spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, indicated that around eight million people may have voted, or about 60 percent of registered voters. That would still be more than many had expected.
A high turnout, especially in Sunni areas, would enhance the legitimacy of a 275-member Parliament, which will choose Iraq’s leaders and write a new constitution. It could also help deflect criticism from Sunni groups that boycotted the poll.
US President George W. Bush called the elections “a resounding success,” but warned that more hard work lay ahead to build democracy there. “There’s more distance to travel on the road to democracy, yet Iraqis are proving they are equal to the challenge,” Bush said in brief remarks at the White House.
His staunchest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the elections had dealt a severe blow to international terrorism. The process, he said, was “a blow right to the heart of the global terrorism that threatens destruction not just in Iraq but in Britain and virtually every major country around the world.”
Insurgent attacks started within two hours of the polls opening, and over the day Baghdad saw eight suicide attacks, 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 in Hillah, south of Baghdad, and detonated his explosives, killing himself and at least four other people, the Polish military said. Deadly mortar volleys hit Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City and struck voters at several sites in Balad, and Kirkuk in the north and Mahawil south of the capital. A website statement purportedly from Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi’s group claimed responsibility for the attacks.
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.
Voter turnout was heavy in Shiite and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods of Baghdad. Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called “Triangle of Death” south of Baghdad, 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers.
Rumors of impending violence were rife. 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 an abaya.
At one polling place in Baghdad, soldiers and voters joined hands in a dance, and in Baquba, voters jumped and clapped to celebrate the historic day. At another, an Iraqi policeman in a black ski mask tucked his assault rifle under one arm and took the hand of an elderly blind woman, guiding her to the polls.
A British C-130 military transport plane crashed yesterday north of Baghdad, killing an undetermined number of service personnel. The plane was en route from Baghdad to the city of Balad when it crashed 40 km northwest of the capital.
In London, Blair paid tribute to those who died, saying: “This country and the wider world will never forget them.”
A C-130 can carry up to 128 soldiers and six crew.
— Additional input from agencies
