Jordan Times
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Media campaign targets
eligible Iraqi voters in Kingdom
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN — Iraqi authorities are conducting a media
campaign throughout the Kingdom to persuade Iraqi nationals living in the
country to take part in the upcoming Dec. 15 elections.
Streets throughout the capital are rife with billboards reminding Iraqis of the
documents required to vote and urging them to participate.
The campaign is organised by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.
Abbas Al Azraq, the commission's spokesperson, said their mission is to raise
awareness among Iraqi voters.
“We are independent from any authority, whether it is political or religious.
Our goal is to facilitate the voting process for Iraqis,” he told The Jordan
Times.
“I call on all eligible Iraqi voters to listen to their country's call and
participate in this democratic process,” he said.
On Dec. 15, Iraqis will go to the polls to elect a council of representatives
for a four-year term, the first permanent government since the collapse of
Saddam Hussein's regime following the US-led invasion of March 2003.
A total of 307 political entities and 19 coalitions have registered to contest
for the 275 seats in the council of representatives, according to the
commission.
The new elected government will require a two-thirds vote from parliament.
The commission's centre in Amman serves as a “control centre” for voting
stations around the world, including Australia, UAE, Syria, Iran, Turkey,
Britain, Lebanon, Denmark, Sweden, America, Holland, Germany, Canada and
Austria, Al Azraq added.
Out-of-country voting in these countries opens Dec. 13 for three days.
Iraqi sources said yesterday that an agreement will be signed between Jordan and
Iraq in the coming days regarding the “administrative and regulatory issues of
the elections.”
The votes will be counted at 10 registered polling stations in Amman, Zarqa and
Irbid. The results will then be sent to Iraq.
In the meantime, Iraqi political parties have also been actively campaigning in
local newspapers during the build- up to the election.
However, the Greater Amman Municipality has ordered candidates to remove posters
that have been plastered on bridges, walls and lamp-posts in the streets of the
capital.
A GAM official told The Jordan Times that candidates' posters could only be
displayed in the vicinity of polling centres.
This election marks the third time this year that Iraqis have gone to the polls.
On Jan. 30, Iraq elected a transitional national assembly which drafted the
draft constitution. The resulting document was approved by the Iraqi people in a
referendum on Oct. 15.
Voter turnout in Jordan for the previous election was less than 5 per cent.
Jordan hosts the largest number of Iraqis outside of Iraq. Unofficial figures
estimate the number of Iraqis living in the Kingdom at around 600,000, half of
which are eligible voters.