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BAGHDAD: Iraqis living abroad will be allowed to
vote in the country's planned January elections
after months of debate over the thorny issue,
organizers said on Thursday.
"The board of the electoral commission has decided
to allow the participation of Iraqis living abroad
in the election process," said Farid Ayyar, a
spokesman for the election organizers.
"They hope that this decision will contribute to
giving more freedom and transparency to the election
process through the participation of some of our
brightest intellectuals," he told AFP.
Several million of Iraq's most well-educated
citizens fled the country during the oppressive
reign of toppled president Saddam Hussein. Some have
returned since the collapse of his regime in April
after last year's U.S.-led invasion, but more than
three million Iraqis remain abroad.
Iraq began on Monday registering voters and
potential candidates for the legislative elections
despite fears that relentless violence in the
country could derail the process.
Voters are to choose a national assembly, a
Parliament for the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi
Kurdistan and 18 provincial councils.
Some 550 registration centers throughout Iraq have
been set up in the same location or near where
Iraqis are accustomed to receiving their food
rations, but there has been much debate over whether
citizens living abroad should be allowed to vote,
largely due to logistical factors.
But Ayyar said that to participate in the elections,
Iraqis abroad can simply present their passports or
identity cards at special centers to be set up in
countries where there is a large Iraqi population.
The electoral commission, with help from UN experts,
has had to create an electoral register from scratch
using ration cards that most families living inside
the country possess as a leftover from a United
Nations oil-for-food program.
There were concerns about how to acknowledge an
overseas vote as well.
"The best method to enable people abroad to
participate is to work with the International
Organization for Migration," said Ayyar, referring
to an agency that has close relations with the
United Nations.
"This organization has a lot of experience when it
comes to elections," added Ayyar.
In the coming days, the electoral commission would
pinpoint which countries house a significant number
of Iraqis, Ayyar said.
"Certain countries have welcomed large numbers of
Iraqis and it is in these countries that the vote
can take place," the spokesman said..
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