Posted on 01/30/2005 9:12:41 AM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
MOSUL, January 30 (IslamOnline.net) – It is election day in Iraq and citizens, mainly Shiites and Kurds, went out in droves to cast their ballots. But many youths in this predominately Sunni city were busy kicking or carrying a ball for a fervent soccer match.
Amid boycott calls from leading Sunni powers and scenes of deserted bullet-scarred polling stations, the majority of the city’s population did not demonstrate any enthusiasm for the vote, the first in a half-century.
As soon as the dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed by Iraqi and US authorities ended at 6:00 a.m., football-frenzied youths fanned out across the city kicking off their matches in full passion and energy.
Baghdad street, one of the city’s main streets, was teeming with footballers, who sought to capitalize on vehicles ban on election day.
“We have been dying for a soccer match for long and today is our day,” Hadi, 25, told IslamOnline.net avidly.
“I have been on a two-day holiday and decided to go out with my friends to play soccer instead of staying home and follow up elections on TV,” he added, taking a deep breath after an exhausting match.
His colleague Yasser Shaker, 28, ran out of steam following a seven-hour play.
“I just can’t see the point of holding such elections. I was totally left in the dark and hadn’t got the faintest idea about any candidate. Football is much more interesting,” he told IOL.
Iraqis nervously cast ballots Sunday, January 30, to elect a 275-seat National Assembly that will in turn choose a Presidency Council and draft the country’s new constitution.
The constitution must then be ratified through a national referendum – scheduled to take place at the end of 2005.
The vote is based on a single constituency, proportional closed-list system, meaning that if a party gets 10 per cent of the votes, it gets 10 per cent of the seats.
Poor Turnout
Polling stations in Mosul get a trickle of voters Sunday as most people were gripped by fears of indiscriminate attacks and car bombs.
Six explosions jolted the city in the early morning but the general hospital had no immediate word on casualties.
Mortar rounds fell into polling station housed in school in the old city but caused no casualties.
A voter coming out of a polling station was wounded by a sniper.
Mosul's election office was also hit by a mass defection of staff earlier this month after they received death threats.
The US military presence was far more visible around polling stations than elsewhere in the country, with tanks in the streets and fighter jets flying overhead.
The predominantly Sunni city, which is also home to Kurds, Turkomans and Christians, has been rocked by relentless violence since gun-toting locals over-ran police stations in November.
Militants unleashed Sunday a wave of bloody attacks, killing at least 37 people and wounding dozens in bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations across the occupied country.
Iraqis, particularly avid Shiites and apathetic Sunnis, remained divided on the controversial elections.
He sounds like the typical uninformed American leftist. The fool hasn't figured out that it's his own responsibility to find out about the different candidates and platforms on the ballot.
Sounds like here. See Democracy is already working.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
The people have won.
We would love to share what we did this morning with the whole world, we can't describe the feelings we've been through but we'll try to share as much as we can with you. We woke up this morning one hour before the alarm clock was supposed to ring. As a matter of fact, we barely slept at all last night out of excitement and anxiety.
The first thing we saw this morning on our way to the voting center was a convoy of the Iraqi army vehicles patrolling the street, the soldiers were cheering the people marching towards their voting centers then one of the soldiers chanted "vote for Allawi" less than a hundred meters, the convoy stopped and the captain in charge yelled at the soldier who did that and said:
"You're a member of the military institution and you have absolutely no right to support any political entity or interfere with the people's choice. This is Iraq's army, not Allawi's".
This was a good sign indeed and the young officer's statement was met by applause from the people on the street. The streets were completely empty except for the Iraqi and the coalition forces' patrols, and of course kids seizing the chance to play soccer!
We had all kinds of feelings in our minds while we were on our way to the ballot box except one feeling that never came to us, that was fear. We could smell pride in the atmosphere this morning; everyone we saw was holding up his blue tipped finger with broad smiles on the faces while walking out of the center.
I couldn't think of a scene more beautiful than that. ... Go here for the rest of the story
Good post.
We need the blue finger here to keep the Leftists from voting over and over again...
They think they get one vote for each finger!
Your post #4 really deseerves it's own thread.
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