Jordan Times
Monday, March 8, 2010
Iraqi polls in Jordan ‘a
success’
By Taylor Luck
IRBID/AMMAN - Iraqi election officials in Jordan hailed a smooth election
process as out-of-country voting for Iraqis concluded on Sunday.
Closing polls in Jabal Hussein yesterday evening, representative of the Iraqi
Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Jordan, Nihad Zaynal, described
the polls as a “success”, with no voting irregularities reported.
“We have not received a single official complaint from voters or observers,”
Zaynal declared.
According to IHEC regulations, voters as well as Iraqi political and
international observers have 48 hours from the end of the voting period to
register complaints or report irregularities.
Despite scattered reports of vote buying, Zaynal said the rumours have yet to be
substantiated, noting that officials will launch an investigation if a complaint
is lodged.
He told The Jordan Times that the overall turnout in the Kingdom was “good”,
noting that Saturday witnessed a peak in voter turnout. Although no figures are
currently available regarding the number of ballots cast in Jordan, results will
be sent to the IHEC out-of-country voting centre in Erbil to be tallied,
according to the commission.
As Iraqis came to the polls in the final hours to vote for their country’s
parliamentary elections, many expressed optimism about rebuilding an Iraq “free
of foreign intrusions”.
Ali Abdullah, 51, who was passing through Jordan on his way back to Baghdad,
said Jordan was a “convenient” place to perform his civic duty.
“We need to be a stronger country against foreign interests,” he said, saying
that countries “from the East and the West” have been “manipulating Iraq”.
Ahmed Al Issa, a business consultant who resides in Canada, was visiting family
in the Kingdom and said that although not perfect, the polls represented a
“large step” in Iraq’s development.
“America first held elections in 1786, and women didn’t have the right to vote.
This is only our second election and 25 per cent of women will be represented,”
he told The Jordan Times outside the polling station in Shmeisani.
“It’s not a bad start, and it is only going to get better,” he added, expressing
concern that some of Iraq’s neighbours “do not want democracy in Baghdad”.
Mustafa Mafraji, 23, and Alaa Al Dabbagh, 24, both students at the Jordan
University of Science and Technology, said they cast their ballots yesterday in
hopes of achieving stability in their home country.
“It has been four years and there has been no progress in Iraq, so we are coming
today to have our voice heard,” Dabbagh said outside the Irbid election centre
yesterday.
The two university students said they refrained from participating in the 2005
polls as they deemed the outcome “suspect”. They expressed optimism that this
year’s election will be the first time Iraqis choose their government free from
“foreign interference”.
“We feel these polls, especially the ones abroad, will be free and fair,”
Mafraji said, noting that within Iraq “it is easier to get away with
irregularities”.
“Just like Obama brought change to America, we need to bring change to Iraq,”
Mafraji added.
Jalal, a 46-year-old Iraqi who left his home in Basra in 2003, said he voted for
the Iraqiya coalition “to encourage reconciliation”, while Nisreen, 37, said the
experience boosted her self-esteem.
“For the first time in many years we feel proud to be Iraqi,” she told The
Jordan Times.
Approximately 113 polling stations in 16 centres in Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and
Madaba governorates opened over the weekend, each polling station designed to
accommodate 1,200-1,500 voters over the three-day period.
Between March 5-7, 300 monitors representing NGOs and various embassies and 900
representing various political parties and coalitions in Iraq toured the polls,
overseeing every step in the process.
Between 32,000-35,000 Iraqis living in Jordan participated in the 2005
elections, according to the IHEC.
There are somewhere between 150,000-180,000 Iraqis of voting age residing in
Jordan, according to estimates from the IHEC and the Iraqi embassy in Amman.
Approximately 16 countries participated in the out-of-country voting.