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Sunni polling stations never opened Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600108589,00.html 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, the four polling places never opened.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600108589,00.html
'We broke a barrier of fear'
Iraqis defy attacks and stand in long lines to cast votes
By Sally Buzbee
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — 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.
"We broke a barrier of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official.
Voters in Shiite and Kurdish areas turned out in especially large numbers, and at the day's end election officials estimated the nationwide turnout could exceed 60 percent. The turnout in the Sunni-dominated areas appeared to be substantially lower. Still, officials said voting there appeared to exceed initial expectations, and in some cases might reach 40 percent.
"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 to a polling station.
"We are Arabs — we are not scared and we are not cowards," Hekeib said.
All through the day, bombs kept exploding, audible from inside the polling places.
"Do you hear that, do you hear the bombs?" said Hassan Jawad, a 33-year-old election worker at Lebanon High School. "We don't care. Do you understand? We don't care."
"We all have to die," Jawad said. "To die for this, well, at least I will be dying for something."
Tight security at polling stations 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 frail woman arrived on a cart pushed by a young relative. Entire families showed up in their finest clothes.
Some Iraqis, leaving polling places, dialed their cell phones and urged their friends to come. Some banged on their neighbors' doors and dragged them out of bed.
The outpouring surprised the Iraqis themselves.
"I never expected so many people," said Ehab Al Bahir, an Iraqi army captain at Marjayoon Primary School. "I'm in charge of 30 polling places, and they are all saying the same thing. Hundreds of people are coming out to vote. One place said that there are already up to a thousand."
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, the four polling places never opened.
Iraqi election officials said it might take 10 days to determine the vote's winner. 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.
"The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," said President Bush, who called the election a success. 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. 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, Iraq could stabilize, hastening the day when 150,000 U.S. troops can go home.
Iraqi interior minister, Falah al-Naqib, told Britain's Channel 4 News he expected there would be no need for U.S. troops any longer than 18 months because that's when he anticipates Iraq's security forces will be trained well enough to handle the job themselves.
On Sunday, 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 least 44 people died in suicide and mortar attacks on polling stations, including nine suicide bombers. The al-Qaida affiliate led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for at least four attacks.
In another reminder of the dangers that persist in Iraq, a British C-130 Hercules transport plane crashed north of Baghdad. No cause was given, but Britain's Press Association, quoting military sources, said about 10 British troops were believed to have died. Elsewhere, one U.S. serviceman died in fighting in the Sunni stronghold of Anbar province.
Despite the string of attacks and mortars, people 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, some saw the vote as settling a score with 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 were ever found.
Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni elder statesman and National Assembly candidate, 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.
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.
Uday Al Rubaie, a 27-year-old taxi driver once under a death sentence for spreading Shiite religious leaflets, recalled the voting in 2002 when Iraqis were asked to vote "yes" or "no" on retaining Saddam. Rubaie said when he showed up late to vote, election workers had already marked "yes" for him.
When the polls opened Sunday, Rubaie walked two hours to cast his ballot at Marjayoon Primary School.
"Look at the sweat on my forehead," he said, wiping his brow. "I've come a very long way."
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