Home>News Center>World
         
 

Iraqis defy threats to vote for assembly
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-31 08:37

Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers Sunday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century.

Iraqi election officials said it might take 10 days to determine the vote's winner and said they had no firm estimate of turnout among the 14 million eligible voters. The ticket endorsed by the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was the pre-voting favorite. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's slate was also considered strong.


Iraqi women wait in the line to enter a polling station in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005. [AP]

"We broke a barrier of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official.

Uncertain Sunni turnout, a string of insurgent attacks that killed 44 and the crash of a British military plane drove home that chaos in Iraq isn't over yet.

Yet the mere fact the vote went off seemed to ricochet instantly around a world hoping for Arab democracy and fearing Islamic extremism.

"I am doing this because I love my country, and I love the sons of my nation," said Shamal Hekeib, 53, who walked with his wife 20 minutes to a polling station near his Baghdad home.

"We are Arabs, we are not scared and we are not cowards," Hekeib said.

With helicopters flying low and gunfire close by, at least 200 voters stood calmly in line at midday outside one polling station in the heart of Baghdad. Inside, the tight security included at least four body searches, and a ban on lighters, cell phone batteries, cigarette packs and even pens.

The feeling was sometimes festive. One election volunteer escorted a blind man back to his home after he cast his vote. A woman too frail to walk by herself arrived on a cart pushed by a young relative. Entire families showed up in their finest clothes.

But for the country's minority Sunni Arabs, who held a privileged position under Saddam Hussein, the day was not as welcome.

No more than 400 people voted in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, and in the heavily Sunni northern Baghdad neighborhood of Azamiyah, where Saddam made his last known public appearance in early April 2003, the four polling places never even opened.

"The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," said President Bush, who called the election a success. He promised the United States would continue training Iraqi soldiers, hoping they can soon secure a country America invaded nearly two years ago to topple Saddam.

Iraqis, the U.S. president said, had "firmly rejected the anti-democratic ideology" of terrorists.

The vote to elect a 275-National Assembly and 18 provincial legislatures was only the first step on Iraq's road to self-rule and stability. Once results are in, it could take weeks of backroom deals before a prime minister and government are picked by the new assembly.

If that government proves successful by drawing in the minority Sunni Arabs who partly shunned the election, the country could stabilize, hastening the day when 150,000 U.S. troops can go home.

On Sunday, coalition soldiers raced through Baghdad's streets in Humvees and tried to coax people to vote with loudspeakers in Ramadi, a Sunni city where anti-U.S. attacks are frequent. Iraqi police served as guards at most polling stations and U.S. troops had strict orders to stay away unless Iraqi security forces called for help.

At the Louisiana National Guard headquarters near Baghdad, nervous U.S. officers paced the halls, muttering, "So far, so good," after the first 30 minutes of polling passed without attacks.

But the violence soon broke out.

While a driving ban seemed to discourage car bombs, the insurgents improvised, strapping on belts of explosives to launch their suicide missions.

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

In another reminder of the dangers that persist in Iraq, a British C-130 Hercules transport plane crashed north of Baghdad. The wreckage was strewn over a large area. No cause was given, but Britain's Press Association, quoting military sources, said as many as 15 British troops were believed to have died. Elsewhere, one U.S. serviceman died in fighting in the Sunni stronghold of Anbar province west of Baghdad.

Despite the string of attacks and mortars that boomed first in the morning and then after dark, a people steeled to violence by years of war, sanctions, the brutality of Saddam's regime and U.S. military occupation were not deterred from the polls.

In the so-called "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, a whiskery, stooped Abed Hunni walked an hour with his wife to reach a polling site in Musayyib. "God is generous to give us this day," he said.

And in heavily Shiite areas in the far south and mostly Kurdish regions in the north, some saw the vote as settling a score with the former dictator, Saddam.

"Now I feel that Saddam is really gone," said Fatima Ibrahim, smiling as she headed home after voting in Irbil. She was 14 and a bride of just three months when her husband, father and brother were rounded up in a campaign of ethnic cleansing under Saddam. None have ever been found.

Many cities in the Sunni triangle north and west of the capital, particularly Fallujah, Ramadi and Beiji, were virtually empty of voters also.

A low Sunni turnout, if that turns out to be the case, could undermine the new government that will emerge from the vote and worsen tensions among the country's ethnic, religious and cultural groups.

Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni elder statesman and candidate for the National Assembly, said he believes the best hope for harmony lies in giving Sunnis a significant role in drafting the country's new constitution.

"The main thing, I think, is we should really have a constitution written by representatives of all segments of Iraq's population," Pachachi said. "I think it would improve the security situation."

Across the largely authoritarian-ruled Arab world, where dislike and distrust of U.S. power and American intentions dominates the public debate, some dismissed the poll as a U.S.-orchestrated sham. Others hoped it might prove a catalyst for a region-wide democratic push.

Iraq's elections are a "good omen for getting rid of dictatorship," said Yemeni political science student Fathi al-Uraiqi.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak — sure to win his own country's much-less-democratic vote later this year — telephoned Allawi to congratulate him on the smooth election, saying he hoped it would "open the way for the restoration of calm and stability" in Iraq.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Iraqis defy threats to vote for assembly

 

   
 

Flights to Taiwan first in decades

 

   
 

Five die of meningitis; Most were students

 

   
 

Beijing considers talking with Chen Shui-bian

 

   
 

China and Venezuela sign oil agreements

 

   
 

No rush on yuan reform: China

 

   
  Seven insurgents responsible for US Embassy in Iraq
   
  Health experts watching bird flu evolution
   
  Israel to pull out from West Bank towns within days
   
  Iraq's landmark polls bagan
   
  Iraq election begins, under shadow of violence
   
  Bush: US must stay in Iraq after election
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲精品在线网站| 国产成人黄网在线免| 一级特黄aaa大片| 日韩欧美综合在线| 亚洲国产激情一区二区三区| 瑟瑟网站在线观看| 嫩草伊人久久精品少妇av| 九九热视频在线播放| 欧美激情第一区| 免费看欧美一级特黄α大片| 色老成人精品视频在线观看| 国产性色av高清在线观看| 三上悠亚精品一区二区久久| 图片区网友自拍另类图区| www.午夜精品| 幸福宝隐藏入口最新章节免费阅读小说| 久久久久久亚洲av无码专区| 日韩视频免费在线观看| 动漫裸男露ji无遮挡网站| 请与我同眠未删减未遮挡小说| 国产欧美在线观看精品一区二区| 50岁老女人的毛片免费观看| 处女的诱惑在线观看| 久久精品九九亚洲精品| 欧美亚洲精品suv| 又粗又硬又黄又爽的免费视频| 青青国产成人久久激情911| 国产成人高清精品免费鸭子| 最新黄色免费网站| 国产精品麻豆va在线播放| 999国产高清在线精品| 大桥未久全63部作品番号| jizzjizz视频| 小仙女app2021版最新| 中国乱子伦xxxx| 攵女yin乱合集高h文| 丰满熟妇乱又伦在线无码视频| 日本媚薬痉挛在线观看免费| 久久午夜羞羞影院免费观看| 波多野结衣与黑人| 国产一级做a爰片久久毛片99|