|
Officials apparently
nervous about support for charter accused of
ballot-rigging, but Kurds overall appear to have
given it overwhelming backing.
Voting centre staffers in Erbil opened their doors
at 7 am. And then they waited.
Many expected a rush of enthused Kurdish voters,
eagerly lining up to cast their votes in favour of a
constitution that Kurdish leaders helped draft.
Voters instead trickled in slowly, and in what
appeared to be smaller numbers than during the
January parliamentary elections.
But as in January, numerous voting irregularities
were reported at polling stations in the Kurdish
city.
Hemin Salih Ismael, office coordinator for the Rozh
monitoring network in Erbil, said the majority of
violations occurred after 3 pm, when ballot boxes
were allegedly stuffed in favour of the constitution
and security, police and electoral staff members are
said to have urged voters to back the charter.
Karwan Mahdi Osman, leader of a monitoring team,
said security personnel dressed in civilian clothing
arrived at Ahmedi Khani prepatory school in the
Mantkawa neighbourhood with ink-stained fingers -
indicating they had already cast their ballots - and
voted more than once.
At the Alaa preparatory school for girls, which
served as a polling centre, an official told IWPR
that voters who were not registered to vote there
cast their ballots.
She said she "made a personal decision to turn a
blind eye to some people [who voted without being
registered] like the elderly and sick. I know this
is violation but in order for their vote not be lost
I allowed them to vote".
Kamal Ghambar, Erbil director of the Independent
Electoral Commission in Iraq, said he would
investigate allegations of voting irregularities.
Officials were unable to say how many people turned
up in Erbil and refrained from giving estimated
results.
Some Kurdish voters expressed concerns with the
constitution ahead of the referendum arguing that
the draft hurt women’s rights, delayed transferring
Kirkuk back to Kurdish control and did not go far
enough in facilitating Kurdish autonomy.
Still, those who went to the polls were largely
expected to endorse the constitution.
Khursheed Jabbar, an Erbil resident, said, "I voted
for the sake of the Kurds." Sti Taha, another local,
said, "I voted so that there will be no more wars."
In Sulaimaniyah, there were media reports of a 72
per cent voter turnout, with 98 per cent backing the
constitution.
In the troubled multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, voters
expressed mixed views on the charter. Kurds want to
administer Kirkuk, a historically Kurdish and
Turkoman city, settled by Arabs under Saddam
Hussein’s regime.
Voter turnout is said to have reached 78 per cent,
with 63 per cent endorsing the constitution. Omer
al-Jubouri, office manager of the electoral
commission in Kirkuk, said Kurdish voters turned out
in higher rates than Sunni Arabs and Turkomen.
Ali Mahdi, Turkomen Front deputy chief, said
Turkomen political leaders were not united and told
voters to make their decisions independently.
"We, the Sunni Turkomen, voted against the
constitution because it did not give us all of our
rights and because it marginalises Turkomen in
Iraq," said Turkan Shukur, representative of the
Iraqi Turkomen Front in Kirkuk and member of the
Kirkuk Provincial Council.
Mohammed Khalil, a Sunni Arab member of the
provincial council, said he rejected the
constitution, although he admitted that more Sunni
Arabs came out to vote than in the January
elections.
In Sulaimaniya "the process in general ran
smoothly", said Sozan Othman, media director of the
electoral commission in this Kurdish city.
"Most of the voters were elderly,” said Wahid
Ismail, coordinator of one of the polling stations.
“The youth were missing."
He attributed this partly to a general feeling of
powerlessness among local people.
"I didn't participate in the referendum because I
have no faith in political parties,” said Kawa Namiq,
a 20-year-old student.
Rebaz Mahmood is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
Top |
® 