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Iraq election begins, under shadow of violence
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-30 14:16
Iraq's first multiparty polls in half a century began at dawn on Sunday,
elections intended to unite the country but which could instead foment sectarian
strife and which insurgents have vowed to turn into a bloodbath.
A U.S. Army soldier hangs a
banner at a primary school scheduled to be used as polling station in the
northern city of Mosul, on January 29, 2005.
[Reuters] |
Polls opened at 7 a.m. (11
p.m. EST Saturday) on a chilly, dark morning and were due to stay open until 5
p.m. (9 a.m. EST).
President Ghazi al-Yawar was one of the first to cast his vote, inside
Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone complex. He emerged with one finger of
his right hand stained with bright blue ink, used to prevent voters casting
multiple ballots.
He said he hoped all Iraqis would follow his lead.
To try to prevent feared violence, Iraq was under security lockdown. Borders
were sealed, airports closed and only official vehicles allowed on the streets
after heavy bloodshed on the eve of voting, including a bold rocket strike that
killed two Americans at the U.S. embassy compound in the Green Zone.
Iraq's President Ghazi al-Yawar shows his finger covered in
indelible ink after casting his vote in Baghdad. Yawar became the first
Iraqi official to vote in free elections in
half-a-century.[AFP] |
Insurgents also
killed 17 Iraqis and an American soldier in other attacks across Iraq on
Saturday.
A suicide bomber struck a U.S.-Iraqi security center in the town of Khanaqin,
northeast of the Iraqi capital. The U.S. military said three Iraqi soldiers and
five civilians were killed in that incident.
The embassy attack deepened fears of an insurgent blitz on election day and
demonstrated their ability to strike at the heart of the interim government and
U.S. power in their vast fortified complex on the west bank of the river Tigris.
It could also worsen fears of Iraq's 14.2 million registered voters about
casting ballots in the country's first election since Saddam Hussein (news - web
sites) was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Iraq's 60 percent-majority Shi'ites, oppressed for decades under Saddam, are
expected to dominate the polls. Kurds, who make up nearly a fifth of Iraqis,
want a result that enables them to enshrine their autonomous rule in the north.
Insurgent groups, including a jihadist faction led by al Qaeda's leader in
Iraq, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have vowed to bomb "infidel"
polling stations and kill anyone who dares to vote.
"For the last time, we warn that (Sunday) will be bloody for the Christians
and Jews and their mercenaries and whoever takes part in the (election) game of
America and Allawi," Zarqawi's group said in a statement posted on an Islamist
Web site, referring to interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Many Iraqis promised to brave the threats, but others were afraid of being
targeted at voting places or afterwards, worried that the indelible blue ink on
their index fingers could mark them for death.
U.S. SEES VOTE AS PIVOTAL
Washington hopes the ballot will help transform Iraq from dictatorship to
democracy but it risks worsening the insurgency by further alienating Iraq's 20
percent-minority Sunni Arabs, who formed the backbone of Saddam's ruling class.
Several leading Sunni parties are boycotting the polls, saying the insurgency
raging strongest in the Sunni heartlands and the presence of more than 150,000
U.S.-led troops will make it impossible to hold a fair vote.
Majority Shi'ites, long oppressed under Saddam, are expected to cement their
newfound dominance. An alliance formed under the guidance of the top Shi'ite
cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is almost certain to win the most votes.
Even if an alliance of secular Shi'ites led by Allawi does not do well, he is
seen as a strong consensus candidate to possibly stay on in office.
But under-representation of Sunni Arabs could undermine the credibility of a
new 275-seat national assembly and increase the risk of sectarian conflict.
The campaign unfolded in a climate of such intimidation that most candidates
kept their names secret and even the locations of polling places were kept under
wraps to the last moment.
Iraq's nascent security forces now face a test of their resolve. Police,
Iraqi troops and U.S. soldiers were to be arrayed in concentric circles around
more than 5,000 polling places.
U.S. and British forces have been ordered to stand back to avoid the
impression of Iraqis voting under occupiers' guns. U.S. troops will have
rapid-response teams on standby if needed.
But many Iraqis voiced doubts their security services would be able to
protect them when they hardly have been able to protect themselves from
insurgents who brand them collaborators.
Under pressure to start bringing U.S. troops home after the election,
President Bush said their mission must keep going to help the new government get
its footing. "Terrorist violence will not end with the election," he said.
Iraqi officials hope for a turnout of at least 50 percent to lend legitimacy
to the outcome. Officials expect preliminary results in six to seven days and
final results in about 10 days.
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