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Voters sceptical despite
an increase in monitors and promises from Kurdish
leaders of clean elections.
The celebrations have already begun. From 8 am until
nearly midnight all this week, cheering and drumming
can be heard in this Kurdish city in northeastern
Iraq. During the day, schoolchildren draped in
Kurdish flags march through the streets chanting,
while at night young men race cars adorned with
Kurdish stickers and flags.
The mood is equally upbeat among members of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK - the main party
in Sulaimaniyah, which is running as part of the
Kurdistan Alliance. Few expect that any of the 19
political coalitions competing with the alliance
will draw support away from it here in Sulaimaniyah,
leading to a sense of victory among the party
faithful even though Iraqis don’t got to the polls
until December 15.
Some voters, however, are feeling distinctly less
cheerful. Many here do not believe the January
parliamentary election and the October
constitutional referendum were really fair, and
question whether this poll will also be marred by
fraud.
"A relative of mine who was a monitor told me that
votes were cast for people who had not participated
in the referendum," said Mustafa Fatih, a
59-year-old taxi driver who did not vote in October.
"This time, I will vote because I don't want the
people working at the polling station to fill in my
ballot."
The number of independent monitors in Sulaimaniyah
has increased from 1,340 for the October referendum
to about 3,020 for this week's election. Agents
monitoring for political parties are 15,000 in
number against approximately 9,000, according to the
electoral commission in Sulaimaniyah. Few
international monitors will watch the election,
however, because of safety concerns.
Sartip Ali Muhammed, deputy director of the
electoral monitoring Rozh network, said the October
referendum was cleaner than the January elections,
but there were still violations including "mass
cases" of people casting ballots on behalf of
others.
"Commission employees turned blind eye on extra
votes, and party agents have tried to commit
irregularities," said Jwan Bahadin, coordinator for
the Election Information Network in the Kurdistan
region.
She said her network, which contains several
non-governmental organiations, will have 20,000
monitors dispatched throughout the country - more
than double the 9,000 it had in the referendum.
But she maintained, "No election is 100 per cent
pure, and violations will occur."
The reports of fraud in past polls did not reflect
well on the Independent Electoral Commission in
Iraq. But people in Sulaimaniyah were angrier at the
main Kurdish parties, the PUK and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party, which runs the western portion of
the Kurdish region.
The PUK has since tried to win back voter trust in
Sulaimaniyah province by promising to shake up its
administration and rid the government of corruption.
While the parties still have many supporters,
another tainted poll could further erode the
public's trust.
"I've warned our supporters not to commit any
violations, because we want to have a clear and
transparent election," said Barham Salih, a senior
PUK official who heads the Kurdistan Alliance in
Sulaimaniyah province.
But party loyalty - and loyalty to Iraq's
historically oppressed Kurdish people - remains
strong among many in Sulaimaniyah. In some cases, it
is stronger than democracy.
"I hope majority of the votes will go for the
Kurds," said Saeed Maulood, a 35-year-old day
labourer. "I don't care if they fill in ballots or
commit fraud. I will vote ten times if I can."
Bahman Hussein, a politburo member of the Kurdistan
Toilers' Party, which is running as part of the
Kurdistan Alliance, said political parties and their
supporters have interfered in the polls – but
insisted the electoral commission was to blame.
"The commission has not been able to place
independent people in charge of the ballot boxes, or
find a mechanism to prevent fraud," he said.
Latif Mustafa, a lawyer from the election
commission, said any monitor or commission worker
who does not follow procedures will not be paid and
will face prosecution.
But civil servants in particular remain wary. Some
ministries and security officials in Sulaimaniyah
province interrogated and in some cases reprimanded
civil servants and police officers for not voting in
the constitutional referendum. The former culture
minister, Fatah Zakhoyee, claimed he was dismissed
because he stayed away from the polls.
"I don't trust the election, but I will vote because
I don't want to create any problems and I don't want
to be fired," said one civil servant in Sulaimaniyah.
Talar Nadir is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
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