Doing their duty

Ahmed Mukhtar reports from Najaf on the elections day mood

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Iraq elections 2005

Defying death threats and suicide bombers, Najaf residents turned out in relatively good numbers on Sunday to vote in the country's first free elections in 50 years, offering a powerful, if uneven, endorsement of democratic rule 22 months after Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown.

Concrete blocks and barbed wire were put up to prevent people and vehicles from entering restricted areas. But the barriers did not appear to dampen spirits.

The polls were open all day, but as the sun went down, some Iraqis belatedly ran to the polling centres. "I went to the polling station at 7pm," Ali Al-Khaqani, 38, a cloth tradesman, said. "It is the day that we choose: the Sistanists or the Zarqawists." Al-Khaqani hoped the elections would restore security to Iraq and enable Najaf to return to being a modern urban centre after being devastated by fighting last year between the followers of firebrand Muqtada Al-Sadr and American troops.

In polling booths throughout Najaf, Iraqis not only braved violence to go to the polls, but also demonstrated that they understood the stakes involved. "I felt I was doing my duty towards my country, people and my family," said Nabil Mufitah, a store owner in the Haidaria neighbourhood." Mufitah said he believed things would straighten out. "If others left the Iraqi people to decide for themselves, things will get better."

Elections officials estimated the turnout to be exceptionally high. "The turnout exceeds 80 per cent," Bushra Kadhim, the chief of the Independent Elections Commission of Iraq, said. "It's a very good percentage and everything is running smoothly and transparently."

Turnout in the Sunni-dominated areas like Falluja and Mosul, where the guerrilla insurgency rages and where many Sunni leaders had called for a boycott, appeared to be substantially lower. It was unclear how the results would affect the Sunnis who pose one of the most daunting challenges to Iraq's future.

In some polling centres, the mood turned joyous, with Iraqis celebrating their newfound democratic freedom in street parties that, until the elections, were virtually unknown in this war-ravaged land. "Today is an extension of Al-Ghadir (a Shia celebration). We are celebrating both."

Voters chose from among 111 parties for members of provincial parliaments as well as a 275-member National Assembly, which will be empowered to write the country's constitution. This is scheduled to be followed by a referendum on the constitution followed by another round of elections in December.

One group of candidates that appeared to do well was the Unified Iraqi Alliance, a large coalition of Shia parties brought together by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al- Sistani, the country's powerful religious leader. One senior aide in the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the major parties in the alliance, said the party had been told by electoral officials that it appeared to have captured more than 80 per cent of the votes.

The slate of candidates led by Iyad Allawi, the prime minister, also appeared to have done well.

Ahmed Abdul-Amir, 29, said he chose the 169 List, the Shia list. "It represented most Iraqi parties and ethnicities and received Al-Sistani's blessings," Abdul- Amir said.

Hassan Abdul-Sada, on the other hand, favoured Allawi's list. "Our country is in need of security and a tough guy like Allawi is most suitable."

Tribal factors played a pivotal role. Ali Al-Shamari chose List 255, Interim President Ghazi Al-Yawar's list. "I chose Al-Yawar because he is from my Shamar tribe," Al-Shamari said.

In spite of various views towards candidates, Najaf residents found in the elections a victory that may ultimately loom larger than that of 9 April 2003 when the Iraqi government fell. The victory then was largely of American making, and one -- despite their relief that Saddam was gone -- that many Iraqis felt they would be unable to build on.

"The election was a victory of our own making," said Abu Hala, 35, a government employee who was carrying his four-year-old daughter on his shoulders as she waved an Iraqi flag which had written on it, "Vote for Iraq".