Low turnout in Iraq's election reflects a disillusioned nation

[deminks]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Voter turnout in Iraq's provincial elections Saturday was the lowest in the nation's short history as a democracy, despite a relative calm across the nation. Only about 7.5 million of more than 14 million registered voters went to the polls.

Interviews suggest that the low voter turnout is an indication of Iraqi disenchantment with a democracy that, so far, has brought them very little.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and the fall of a brutal dictator, Iraqis witnessed unprecedented violence in their nation and what they believe is humiliation under a foreign occupation. Even on Saturday, U.S. tanks could be spotted across Baghdad on largely empty roads.

Following elections in 2005 Iraq spiraled into a sectarian war. People cowered in their homes while others literally killed each other in the streets. Many here feel the people they elected were party to or at least complicit in the violence. The security forces, too, were feared as sectarian death squads; Iraqis believed that American raids or passing U.S. tanks sometimes resulted in innocent civilian deaths.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/883151.html

[varkam]

1. Welcome to democracy. All your idealism are belong to us. eom

[JeffR]

2. Wow. So we really DID create a democracy in our own image.

A lousy one.

[HillWilliam]

22. From Day One I kept saying

you can't "export democracy" at the point of a gun. The concept was ludicrous from the git-go.

That's what happens when an ideologue court puts a chimpanzee in charge of the shop.

[JeffR]

23. Yes. OTOH, I think they do have KFC now.

People around the world love the smell of fried chicken with a side of freedom fries in the morning. It smells like... uh... fried chicken and fries.

[Idealism]

3. That type of voter turnourt would've made Paul Weyrich proud

I wonder how many people actually get that comment :/

[tclambert]

5. Didn't get it, 'til I found this quote in Wikipedia:

"I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." - Paul Weyrich

[Idealism]

7. Some people have been known to call him

the father of voter suppression. He helped create a whole new tactic of the GOP's dirty tricks bag.

[Hissyspit]

14. Heritage Foundation. Dominionist.

I had never seen the voting quote before, though.

[Idealism]

21. Arguably his most lasting legacy

Heritage foundation would have come about either way, but no one was talking about voter suppression like Weyrich was.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Turnout would have been greater if the used shoes instead of ballots n/t

[alexandria]

6. Wow over 50% voted.

Thats great news.

[Baby Snooks]

8. And how many here?

What is the percentage here? I didn't vote for the longest time. I may not vote again for the longest time. That is how disillusioned I am becoming with Barack Obama and particularly with his table. Not to mention Congress. Which even though a Democratic Congress seems intent on maintaining the "of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation" oligarchy rather than affirming the "of the people, by the people, for the people" democracy.

They gave the bakery to Wall Street while offering the leftover crumbs to Main Street. Which is becoming very crowded with people who have been evicted and are now living on Main Street.

[alexandria]

10. Is it all about you?

I am so glad people in Iraq had a right to vote.
You should see a therapist for your issues.

[llmart]

16. And you should educate yourself......

and stop believing everything you read in your local newsrag. Do some more in depth reading, such as articles posted on DU. If you think everything is hunky dory because they are allowed to vote, then I have some swampland to sell you. To start with, look up the word "propaganda" in a dictionary and familiarize yourself with it.

[alexandria]

20. I do not read Newspapers?

and i do not look at TV,what is your point?

[Hissyspit]

24. Things are just hunky-dory in Iraq:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28919905

Three political candidates slain in Iraq
Shootings come as Iraqi forces begin imposing full-scale security crackdown

updated 5:40 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 29, 2009
BAGHDAD - Gunmen apparently targeting political candidates staged attacks around Iraq, leaving at least three people dead.

The shootings came as Iraqi forces began imposing a full-scale security clampdown in advance of voting for provincial council seats.

The level of violence around Iraq dropped significantly lower than in past years.

But Saturday's election was seen as an important test of Iraqi self-reliance and competence as the U.S. military begins to turn over more authorities to local forces.

Security measures taking effect Friday include closing Iraq's international borders, ordering traffic bans across Baghdad and major cities and halting air traffic.

Hundreds of women, including teachers and civic workers, have been recruited to help search women voters after a rise in female suicide bombers last year.

[pampango]

26. Our point is that we are smarter than you are, because you do not agree with us.

You must not be looking at the same "facts" that we are, therefore you are a dupe.

Rather than grant everyone the right to an opinion and discussing that, we prefer to portray those whom we don't agree with as uninformed sheeple who may, one day, achieve our level of awareness.

[LynnTheDem]

9. You just gotta be joking.

Just forgot to use the :sarcasm: right?

[alexandria]

11. No?

Is it not good that they had the choice to vote?
Or would rather Saddam running everyhing?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alexandria]

15. Enjoy my stay?

What does that mean ?

[Hissyspit]

25. The Shocking Updated Toll Of The Iraq Occupation

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4961300&mesg_id=4961300

Only 5 percent of the displaced have returned to their homes.

1-2 million widows. 4.5 million ophans.

[Mudoria]

30. That means that you have a different viewpoint

than the dunce who wrote that to you therefore you must be a *gasp* freeper. Also you don't have the requiste number of posts to have an opinion.

[Hissyspit]

13. We turned the country into a fucking bloodbath!

And people are STILL dying, by the way.

[pampango]

28. And yet there is still a voter turnout over 50% in a non-presidential election.

We have certainly screwed Iraq big time, but you can't vault Iraqi voters for that and for perhaps wanting to have a say in who leads them in telling us to take a hike. We are never able to get 50% to vote in an off-year election and we don't have the continuing violence and infrastructure collapse that the Iraqis voters have to put up with.

[Jazzgirl]

34. Yes actually.

Saddam did a much better job.

[bdab1973]

35. Are you kidding me?

Come on over here and ask the guys I work with (Iraqis)...I'd love to see the reaction they'd give you if you told them Saddam did a "good job". They all hate him with a passion. And many of these guys were former Ba'ath party members and officers in Saddam's military...and they STILL hate him. Imagine if you were an Iraqi on the other side of the fence in Iraq. Go up to Erbil or Sulaimaniyah and ask the Kurds if they think Saddam's Iraq was better...they'd probably kick the ever living hell out of you.

How many times have you been to Iraq? Do you know any Iraqis personally? I've only met one who said he liked Saddam...it was in NYC, when my Arabic class instructors (an Arab Sunni woman and a Chaldean man) took us to a restaurant they heard was really good, so we could all taste Arabic food before deploying. The guy who owned the restaurant talked to them in Arabic, and then an argument ensued. In the end, we left and ate somewhere else. Why? Because the owner said Saddam was a great man, and the two instructors said "before we left, we called him a shoe". Given the recent news about the shoe thrower, being called a shoe (or having one thrown at you) is an insult.

So while many Iraqis want us to go at some point, they certainly do NOT want Saddam to come back, and they certainly are glad he is gone.

[anonymous171]

17. That's good. It's better than a rabidly anti-American nation.

[LynnTheDem]

18. It's both.

[anonymous171]

19. God dammit.

Can Bush and Neocons do anything right?

[LynnTheDem]

29. Is that a rhetorical question?

:D

[conturnedpro09]

27. While there's nothing wrong with rejoicing for Iraqis

who are no longer tyranized by Saddam, it's equally important to point out that, as best as I can tell, Iraq is now a "democracy" of the Iraqi people, by the Iraqi people, for the United States government. n/t

[alexandria]

31. Thank you

I am glad that the Iraq people have a right to vote.
When Obama pulls the troops out i hope they can keep the right to vote..
Why i am getting attacked for being happy that the people can vote is beyond me?

[ohio2007]

32. Sunnis and Nationalists Make Gains In Iraq

no solid results for another week but;

Sunnis and Nationalists Make Gains In Iraq

Prime Minister Maliki also winning big, while Kurds and the separatist Shiite religious parties appear to have been soundly defeated

Preliminary, mostly leaked, results from the elections in Iraq suggest a tectonic shift away from ultra-religious Shiite parties and separatist Kurds, with nationalists, secular parties, Sunnis, and Prime Minister Maliki all making huge gains.If so, it's the first step toward a major recalibration of Iraqi politics -- and for the good.
Big losers: the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), the Iranian-backed Shiite separatist party, whose militia, the Badr Brigade, was responsible for thousands of assassinations since 2003, and the Kurds, whose hold on Nineveh province in the north, was shattered. The election can also be seen as a setback for Iran, whose chief allies in Iraq -- especially ISCI, but also Jalal Talabani's Kurds -- lost.


Actual election results won't be known for a few days,



The New York Times highlights the fact that not only Maliki but secular parties won big. It says:
"The relative success of the secular parties may be a sign that a significant number of Iraqis are disillusioned with the religious parties that have been in power but have done little to deliver needed services."


In Nineveh, whose capital is Mosul, power had been in the hands of a minority Kurdish bloc, since the Sunni Arabs -- who make up 60 to 80 percent of the province's population -- boycotted the 2005 vote. This time, a Sunni-led party, Al Hadba, reportedly won 40 percent of the vote, putting it in the drivers' seat.

snip

A potential trouble spot could be Anbar province, in the west, where the resistance movement originated. The minority, religious party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, controlled the province after the rigged, 2005 vote, and this time various parties associated with the Sunni Awakening and other, secular and nationalist parties expected big gains. Votes aren't counted yet, but there are some red flags. From the New York Times:



“Ahmed Abu Risha, a powerful tribesman in Anbar Province and the brother of one of the founders of the Awakening councils, which joined the Americans to fight Islamic insurgents, said he believed that the turnout was lower than the 40 percent announced by the election commission and that the numbers were being manipulated by the Iraqi Islamic Party. ‘If the Islamic Party wins, it will be another Darfur,’ he said.”


Also, no word yet on how the Sadrist-linked, independent parties did, in Baghdad or in other provinces. Muqtada al-Sadr, once seen as the most powerful man in Iraq, has plummeted in popularity, and he's squirreled away in Iran now. But his movement, which represents the Shiite poor and less affluent voters, may still have scored important gains. Many Sadr-leaning Shiites, however, may have opted for Maliki this time.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=30178

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1582898/QandampA-Who-is-Moqtada-al-Sadr.html


It can be said a lot has changd in less the one year since al Sadr ordered Maliki out of Basra

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3244022&mesg_id=3244022

[bdab1973]

33. I was personally involved with the election to a degree

We helped the Iraqis transport ballot boxes from some locations to be counted. I was very glad the elections went fairly well. I was in an airport terminal building talking with a bunch of Iraqis that live in Mosul, and they were generally happy about the result. Many told me that the fundamentalist religious parties were roundly defeated, although you can debate what's considered fundamentalist over here sometimes.

I know Iraqis that did not vote, and many of them are just like us...they just didn't go out of laziness. I asked one of the guys why he didn't vote and he just shrugged and continued to smoke his cigarette. Those that did said the election went well. The ballot boxes were all escorted by elections commission people, so from my end it seemed the process was in place and is working. The only hiccup I saw was the loading process...I will just say that common sense didn't prevail and I watched them load and unload the boxes the hard way.

[ohio2007]

36. Iraqi policemen, still a long way to go

That GI knows Barack is going to kick the crutch out
so
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0a3_1233765334

For Iraq, it's show time
Stand or fall.

btw
tough love tends to get deleted around here ad I hope you have thick skin

[bdab1973]

37. I know they don't want us to leave..

The Iraqis I work for want us to stay, because we get things done. But very soon the Iraqi unit I'm working with will find itself on their own. They are capable of doing fine. The ones I'm worried about are the leadership of their Air Force. There's not much we can do about it, because patriarchal society and corruption at the top are expected and part of life for Iraqis. The guys I work with all were eagerly awaiting their new jackets, but discovered they would be late because the American advisors to the leadership had to order more when the Iraqi leaders got a hold of the shipment and pilfered it for their own needs.

Were they mad? Sure, but it was kinda like "well, that's the way it is". I already have had several discussions with these guys about taking ownership for their units and when they are in command of flying an airplane, instead of allowing the top brass to micromanage (or mismanage?) them. It may be a futile discussion, but I'll give it a try.