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BIG TURNOUT BUOYS HOPES
UNFLINCHING: = Millions vote in=20 defiance of rebel attacks

Borzou = Daragahi,=20 Chronicle Foreign Service

Monday, January 31, 2005

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Printable=20 Version=20
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Iraq=20 Elections

Discuss=20 the Iraq election=20

World=20 leaders welcome high turnout in Iraqi = vote=20 (01/31)=20

Iraq's=20 interim prime minister calls for unity as rebels = promise=20 more violence (01/31)=20

Millions=20 vote in defiance of rebel attacks = (01/31)=20

What's=20 next (01/31)=20

A=20 day of making choices and history = (01/31)=20

Bush=20 says his policies are paying off (01/31) =

Voting=20 held in Iraq's first free election in a = half-century,=20 attacks on polling stations kill 44 = (01/30)=20

Mortar=20 fire, bombings amid heavy security = (01/30)=20

Bay=20 Area men drive all night to cast ballots = (01/30)=20 =

Baghdad -- A day after millions of Iraqis = flocked to=20 the polls in an election hailed as a success by U.S. and Iraqi = officials,=20 the nation faces a series of daunting challenges, including = choosing a=20 prime minister, writing a constitution and closing the ethnic and=20 religious divisions revealed on election day.=20

President Bush called Sunday's election a resounding success = and said=20 voters had "firmly rejected the anti-democratic ideology," but he = warned=20 that it would not stop the campaign of violence by insurgents.=20

Anecdotal reports indicated turnout was higher than the 57 = percent=20 election officials had projected, said Carlos Valenzuela, the top = U.N.=20 adviser to the Iraqi Election Commission. Exactly how many of = Iraq's 14=20 million eligible voters appeared at the polls won't be known for = some=20 time.=20

Officials said it could be days before results are confirmed = but the=20 United Iraqi Alliance -- topped by Abdel-Aziz Hakim, a Shiite = cleric who=20 returned from exile in Iran -- is expected to dominate the = results. Voting=20 was especially heavy in the Shiite south, where there was broad = support=20 for the alliance slate.=20

The Iraqi List, headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, = is=20 expected to win about 20 percent of the vote, and the two major = Kurdish=20 parties are also expected to garner about 20 percent of the vote,=20 according to election observers. Few Sunni Arabs were expected to = win=20 seats because many people in Sunni areas boycotted the polls or = were too=20 afraid to vote.=20

"There will be horse-trading and uncertainty and politics -- = and that=20 is success," Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told the Los = Angeles=20 Times.=20

Despite suicide bombs and mortar attacks that claimed the lives = of at=20 least 44 people, many Iraqis responded enthusiastically to the = chance to=20 participate in their future after centuries under the thumb of = autocratic=20 regimes.=20

Wamidh al-Zubaidy, 40, an auto mechanic in Baghdad, decided to = vote=20 though he and his pregnant wife were accosted by a group of masked = men who=20 went door to door threatening to burn people's homes if they = participated=20 in the election.=20

"I remembered my brother, who Saddam executed," he said. "I = felt a=20 power inside myself, and there was a voice telling me, 'This = should not=20 happen to my son or to any Iraqi. I have to prevent this = dictatorship from=20 returning to Iraq.' "=20

The vote to elect a 275-seat transitional National Assembly, = which will=20 name a new government, draft a constitution and arrange for new = elections=20 by Dec. 15, is only the first step of Iraq's road to self-rule.=20

It could take weeks of negotiations to select a prime minister = and=20 Cabinet. Voters also cast ballots for 18 provincial assemblies, = and Kurds=20 in their semi-autonomous northern enclave voted for a separate = 111-seat=20 Kurdistan regional assembly.=20

Reports of voter intimidation were rife. In Ramadi, insurgents=20 distributed leaflets, including one that said: "We will wash the = streets=20 of Ramadi with the blood of voters."=20

In the middle-class Mansour district of Baghdad, two women = walking to=20 the polls said they were stopped by men in police uniforms, who = seized=20 their identification cards, ordered them to go home and threatened = to=20 behead them if they went to the polling center.=20

"We did not say a word, just returned straight back to our = houses,"=20 said Salwa Mahmoud Othman al-Bayati, 49, who works as secretary in = a=20 university. "I was afraid and close to crying."=20

At least 44 people, including nine suicide bombers, died in = attacks on=20 polling stations. The al Qaeda affiliate led by Jordanian terror=20 mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for at = least four=20 attacks. Most attacks were in Baghdad, but one of the deadliest = came in=20 Hillah to the south, where a bomber got onto a minibus carrying = voters and=20 detonated his explosives, killing himself and at least four = others.=20

North of Baghdad, a British C-130 Hercules transport plane = crashed=20 Sunday, strewing wreckage over a large area. No cause was given, = but=20 Britain's Press Association, quoting military sources, said about = 10=20 British troops were believed to have died. Elsewhere, one U.S. = serviceman=20 died in fighting in the Sunni stronghold of Anbar province west of = Baghdad.=20

Important regional and global issues underpinned Sunday's vote. = For=20 Iraq, the election could signal either a weakening or = intensification of a=20 simmering insurgency led by Sunni Arabs. For the Middle East, it = could=20 create the Arab world's first true democracy and its first = Shiite-led=20 government or lead to chaos that could destabilize autocratic = regimes in=20 Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Persian Gulf. For the = United=20 States, it could help vindicate Bush's invasion of the country or = set the=20 stage for a civil war that will keep U.S. troops in Iraq for = years.=20

But aside from its political ramifications, the election was = marked by=20 ordinary Iraqis braving dramatic challenges to cast their vote, = proudly=20 dipping their fingers into plastic jars of indelible blue ink = meant to=20 prevent voting fraud.=20

Jaffar Khalef Kadhem, a 43-year-old ex-soldier, went to the = polls=20 despite the earth-shaking sounds of nearby explosions.=20

"I came here for a goal, which is maintaining the security and = safety=20 of Iraq," he said. "I prefer to die an honest death than not to = vote."=20

On one block in Sadiya, a mixed Sunni and Shiite neighborhood = of=20 Baghdad, a local man identified by neighbors as a Sunni Arab = extremist=20 wound up voting. He sheepishly explained that he voted for the = secular=20 Allawi out of fear that pro-Iranian Shiite clerics would take = control of=20 the country.=20

Even in Fallujah -- the Sunni insurgent stronghold crushed by = U.S.=20 troops in November -- an estimated 3,000 voters cast ballots, = surrounded=20 by election workers who donned ski masks to conceal their = identity.=20

But residents in most Sunni Arab neighborhoods and cities like = Ramadi=20 described dismal turnouts and quiet, barren streets. Both the = Iraqi=20 Islamic Party and the Muslim Scholars Association, the two groups = that=20 represent pious Sunni Muslims, urged their followers to stay away = from the=20 polls.=20

Mehdi Ahmad, a resident of Ramadi, a volatile resistance = hotbed,=20 refused to vote. "My choices are between Hakim, an agent of Iran, = or=20 Allawi, who is an agent of the occupation," he complained.=20

But among Iraq's Shiites and Kurds, the mood was festive, = despite the=20 heavy presence of armored vehicles, soldiers and machine-gun = wielding=20 police officers patrolling the streets of the capital and other = cities.=20

Witnesses described joyous Iraqis heading to polls while = chanting=20 religious slogans in Shiite strongholds such as Basra, Nasiriya, = Amara and=20 Sadr City. Voters in the Kurdish Iraqi city of Irbil danced in the = streets=20 after polls closed. Kurds hope to consolidate the gains they have = made=20 since joining with Americans to overthrow Saddam Hussein's = government, and=20 many took part in an unofficial referendum on whether they would = like to=20 declare their independence from Iraq.=20

In Najaf, a holy Shiite city of learning and prayer, Seyed Alaa = al-=20 Husseini al-Hilli, a 40-year-old teacher of Islamic philosophy, = smiled and=20 lit a cigarette after he cast his vote. "I haven't done anything = like this=20 in my whole life,'' he said. "Finally I feel like a complete = person, with=20 the right to vote, a real citizen of my country."=20

Delphine Minoui in Erbil, Thomas Erdbrink in Kirkuk, = Thanassis=20 Cambanis in Najaf and Iraqi stringers in Baghdad and Ramadi and = Chronicle=20 news services contributed to this report.

Page A - 1

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BIG TURNOUT BUOYS HOPES UNFLINCHING: = Millions vote in=20 defiance of rebel attacks

BIG TURNOUT BUOYS HOPES
UNFLINCHING: = Millions vote in=20 defiance of rebel attacks