Iraqi Election Candidates Finally Revealed (Paper publishes 7,000 names)

[truthpusher]

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/4136853/detail.html

Iraqi Election Candidates Finally Revealed
Newspapers Publish Names Of 7,000 Running In Sunday's Election

POSTED: 5:33 pm EST January 27, 2005
UPDATED: 6:16 pm EST January 27, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Talk about a short political campaign: With only three days to go before the Iraq election, voters have finally been told who will be on the ballot.


AP Image
A sample ballot for the Iraqi elections set for Jan. 30.

Iraqi newspapers Thursday published for the first time the names of some 7,000 candidates for the new National Assembly. Many of the candidates' identities had been kept secret to protect them from assassination.

In the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah, where opposition to the balloting is strong, U.S. Marines drove through the city, urging people through loudspeakers to turn out to vote on Sunday.

The interim government said it will deploy an additional 2,500 troops to help guard polling places. A total of 300,000 Iraqi and multinational troops will provide security, with Iraq's U.S.-trained forces taking the lead role.

Iraq's national security adviser acknowledged that security remains shaky in four of the 18 provinces, but he expressed optimism that extensive security measures will protect voters and encourage turnout.

more:

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/4136853/detail.html

[Spinzonner]

1. And the insurgent hit squads are probably being activated

as we post ...

[Tempest]

4. Along with Negroponte's death squads

Sunnis will kill off the pro-Bush candidates, Negroponte will kill of the anti-Bush candidates and Allawi will be declared the winner.

[tjdee]

2. Whatever, whoever wins is voting for Allawi.

George Bush thanks the Iraq people in advance for their complete agreement with him on the subject.

[Kikosexy2]

3. 7000 names...

to go thru--what a crock of sh*t! The puppet has it made in the shade already--why bother.

[KansDem]

5. Yeah, 7,000 names...

They'll require an awful lot of white sticky labels!

[Kikosexy2]

7. Innie..

meenie, minie, moe! I pick this one! yea..that one. Can I open my eyes now.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. LOL

You think anyone will notice?

I heard Ohio has a left over supply.

[central scrutinizer]

15. Jon Stewart did a great bit on this

they showed a pie chart with hundreds of different colored slices that showed that the _________ party had a commanding lead of 0.7% of the vote. It was hilarious.

[realFedUp]

6. a little more complicated than the California recall election ballot....

but so easy to fix.

[katinmn]

8. 7,000 candidates on the ballot???

How can ANYONE possibly take this election seriously?

The world has gone crazy.

[rzemanfl]

9. I find it amazing that 7,000 Iraqis volunteered to die for a place

in Bush's National Assembly. What does the job pay?

[twaddler01]

12. bush can

:)

[merwin]

10. So, say it takes 1 second to look at and process each name on the list

That is about 2 hours just to read the damn list.

This is going to be a superb election! Although, the list will probably be narrowed down by a few hundred. I wonder how many will still be alive come sunday?

[twaddler01]

11. well....

"In the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah, where opposition to the balloting is strong, U.S. Marines drove through the city, urging people through loudspeakers to turn out to vote on Sunday."

Voting on Sunday in Iraq...That's like a turtle trying to cross a busy intersection.

:puke:

[ticapnews]

13. 2 hours to cast your ballot? And you don't even know the candidates?

And how many of these candidates are going to have similar (or even identical) names? Will this be an election day or an election week?

I predict that most voters are going to look at the size of the ballot (assuming they are able to carry this tome to the ballot box) and just vote for the first person on the list.

[NYC]

19. Good point re "tome".

How many pages long will this ballot be?

Also, a person above said 1 second per name would require 2 hours. Suppose you are deciding between 2 or 3 or 4 people (heroic to have narrowed it down so), can you keep looking at option a, then option b, etc? Much the way I review a menu when I have a few choices. I look back at the potential choices. I would hate to have to flip through countless pages to do so.

According to an article I read about 2 days ago, some of the parties that had been listed, have since withdrawn. Is that also true of the candidates listed? Have several of them withdrawn?

Another poster asked how George Bush & Co. found so many candidates to be (suicidally) on the ballot. Could this be the "ballot of the willing"?

[ticapnews]

23. It won't be a menu, it will be a phonebook...

How many names per page do you think they'll be able to fit on a page? 50? 100? We're going to be looking at 50-150 pages of names. It boggles the mind.

How small are they going to make the print? What happens if a voter can't read the ballot or has poor eyesight?

It's a logisitical nightmare and I doubt anyone is really trying to solve it. Just as long as the right people win...

[NYC]

24. The right people will win no matter who is on the ballot.

The right people will win no matter who votes.

Joseph Stalin:

It's not who votes that counts. It's who counts the votes.

[katinmn]

14. AAR's Majority Report interviewed this strange character

(an American) who has apparently been contracted to advise on GOTV strategies for all the candidates. He calls them the "Brown Cowboys." Because of the dangerous situation, they are having to adapt and use unique methods for getting their messages out.

Here are a few examples:
*Send out a "decoy" candidate, armed of course, to see if he gets shot at. If not, the real candidate comes out to speak.
* Prerecorded stump speeches. You don't actually see the candidate, but you can lsten to him at a rally. (Do people stand around a boombox?)
And my favorite:
* The first 200 to show up at the rally get a quart of goat's milk.

It's so sad, it makes me cry. I would be happy for them if I didn't know Allawi would be elected no matter what, and that many, many people will be killed.

[oppositionmember]

16. Picking names out of the phone book

would have been more efficient and humane.

[NYC]

20. Perhaps that's what they did.

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Well they might have well save the list

for next week obituaries.

[Red Ted]

21. "Iraqi Election Candidates Finally Revealed (Paper publishes 7,000 names)"

Except for leaving what do you think we shoud do ?
I was listening to NPR today and the communist party was out campaigning, I was a great report about the people tiring to convince people to vote...

[NYC]

22. The Communist Party will not be on the ballot

using the name "Communist Party". I read it a day or two ago. It is a strange assemblage of parties. So, people who want to vote for the Communist Party may not be able to identify them on the ballot.

Same goes for other parties.

[dw]

25. Prediction: George W. Bush (R) will win 73% of all votes...

cast on Diebold machines shipped over from the States.

[Charlie Brown]

26. The average voter in this country

is not informed at all on the similarities/differences between various candidates (how many people were saying as late as August that they didn't know enough about Kerry, in spite of the convention and a million dollar promotion machine). The media breakdowns, newspaper write-ups and availibility of the ballot for weeks leading up to the election are not enough to engage the interest of most voters over here.

Do we now believe that Iraqis, for whom every day is a struggle simply to survive, are going to be informed enough within 3 days to know the differences between all of these groups and the people they're fronting?

This entire election is a farce.

[ticapnews]

27. When is the debate? And where?

The football stadium? That's about the only place that could hold all 7000 candidates.

I wouldn't want to be the moderator for that...