2009.01.27
Historic Election Day Just Days Away
The Iraqi people don’t have much of a track record with free and fair elections. In 1995, 99.6% of the vote went for Saddam Hussein. Seven years later, Saddam achieved 100% of the vote. (Many of those ballots were already filled in when they were printed.)
However, when Iraqi men and women vote Saturday they will do so with a remarkably different outlook.
On January 30, 2005, Iraqis went to the polls for the first time under their new government to elect their representatives in Parliament, who would in turn elect the prime minister. Several groups boycotted the elections, refusing to acknowledge the validity of the new government. In the end, the elected parties were largely along ethnic and religious lines: Sunnis, Shi’a, and Kurds.
Four years later, the new Iraqi government is firmly in control and undeniably valid. The government of Iraq is clearly not a puppet of the United States, as it makes decisions on its own accord.
Those who boycotted last election effectively denied themselves representation. This mistake will not be made again at the end of this month.
Iraqis in each of the country’s 18 provinces will elect mayors, governors and local legislatures, which act like our state legislatures. The key to this is that it is not the first election. Current legislative seats are up for reelection, and change is in the air.
There are more options this year — among them are 700 different political parties, which campaign their three-digit identification number on banners and billboards. More than 14,000 candidates are running for 440 seats. About 3,900 of those candidates are women, who by law will take 25% of the seats. With the violence down, the populace is unlikely to be scared away from polling sites. Officials expect an 80 percent turnout.
The most important change, though, is the drastic shift in what drives voters. Religious-based parties garnered most votes last election, but this is not likely to be the case this time. Iraqis witnessed the Sunni and Shi’a parties quarrel to achieve the smallest of results for three years but saw Prime Minister Maliki deliver tangible results. Support for both Sunni and Shi’a parties have declined, and pundits expect them to lose seats to issue-based parties, like Maliki’s party.
Above all, this month’s elections demonstrate the power of the vote. The people elected one set of representatives, and soon they will have another. A second local legislature. A different mayor. The people demand results. They want promises of progress, especially in services.
If there are any doubts in Iraq or the U.S. on the success of a democratic republic in Iraq, these elections should put those doubts to rest. In years to come, Iraq will have a more vibrant economy. But already it’s a shining example of democracy in the Middle East.
Rich Connaroe
Captain, U.S. Army
RICHARD.CONNAROE@US.ARMY.MIL
The thoughts and opinions in this article are that of the author alone and are not meant to represent the U.S. military. Any errors contained therein are that of the author.
This post was originally printed on page 3 of the Virginia section of the Roanoke Times on 31JAN2009.
Rich,
Thank you so much for this information. It is great to know that the Iraqi people are exercising their right to vote!
Hope you are doing well. David was home on leave 22 December to 10 January. We so enjoyed having him here! He's gotten the word that his unit will be back some time the first of April.
Take care. I keep you in my prayers.
Rita Jennings
Comment by Rita Jennings — January 27, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
Great insight! Do you think it will help or hurt that there are so many candidates and parties?
Comment by Michelle — January 28, 2009 @ 1:55 pm
Michelle, you ask a difficult question. I can only speculate.
The existence of so many parties will make it difficult for the smaller ones or ones with less money to compete. The larger parties, like Prime Minister Maliki's '302 Party,' have a lot more advertisements on the streets.
With this many parties, I should think that many would hold a smaller number of seats in the legislatures. Therefore, there would be no real majority party, just the larger of the minority parties.
Comment by richconnaroe — January 28, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
Rita, I am so very glad that you were able to spend time with your son. And that time was throughout the holidays. I know that you are proud of him. He is a great guy.
Rich
Comment by richconnaroe — January 28, 2009 @ 2:56 pm
I've been TV watching news articles on the elections today. While I know the news media can tend to put slants on reports, it looks like the elections went well! I find that to be wonderful and a great testament to the work of you, your team and other American Service persons, and the Iraqis - military and non-military.
It fascinates me how many candidates there were. I’ve heard reports that 20 or 25% of parties have to be female; fascinating. Do they print regional ballots or are all candidates on every ballot? I’m picturing ballots that are long and unmanageable.
I am interested in hearing about what you witnessed and your reactions to the events of the day.
Comment by Wendy Jones — January 31, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
Rich,
Watching the media coverage of the elections was great to see. The Iraqi people have a good leg up on democratic representation it seems. I see they are still using the purple dye. Makes it tough to vote twice(maybe we should try that here heh, heh,). I hope all went well at all of the polling places. Take care, Mike
Comment by mike thorne — January 31, 2009 @ 10:21 pm
Rich,
Thank you for your service and time. It is a great idea. I do wish someone like you from Aghanistan would do something like you are doing. My son is with the 82nd Airborne, just got back in April 08. Take care. Be safe Have a safe return home. God Bless
Comment by CavScoutArmyMom — February 1, 2009 @ 11:14 am
Correction***Afghanistan
Comment by CavScoutArmyMom — February 1, 2009 @ 11:16 am
Wendy, sadly, I did not get to see a ballot for myself, but I understand that ballots were regional. Still, with hundreds of candidates, the ballot had to be rather lengthy. Law mandated that women would hold 25% of the seats. So in this area, the men ran for 43 seats, and the women ran for 14 seats. These laws will fade away in time, but it is more to jumpstart the confidence in the women's ability to represent.
CavScoutArmyMom, I know that you are very proud of your son. It is my pleasure to serve in the same Army as him. It would be nice if the Roanoke Times had someone writing about Afghanistan, but it takes time to do this, and I have to be careful in choosing what I write about. There are a great many things that would be inappropriate for me to discuss, no matter how interesting of news it is.
Mike, the dye that they used in this area was red. The first time that I saw it was on a Soldier, who had just voted. I thought that the dye was blood and that he had had a serious accident.
Comment by richconnaroe — February 9, 2009 @ 2:58 am