All registered to vote
It's funny cos I wasn't exactly sure if I was allowed to vote. No not for political or racist reasons though it would have given me an edge, but because of the odd situations that only my goodself can be found in. To start with I have nothing to prove that I'm Iraqi no Iraqi passport nothing just this temp ID I had made in Kurdistan 7 or 8 years ago so we could travel between cities there and even if I could prove I was Iraqi I wasn't going to be in the same country on the day of the elections, so I thought I'd just tag along with my parents and see how this out of country registration is done and ask in passing if I could register.
What an anti-climax I was allowed to vote and I didn't even have to talk my way through it. The whole thing didn't take 5 mins, well 5 mins from the moment they asked why I wasn't registering.
"no passport? do your parents own an iraqi passport"
"yes" (though only recently)
"anything to prove identity and your relation to your father"
"yes healthcard and a driving liscence"
"let me see, ok fill this form take this recipt come back on the day with it and an ID"
As for voting, the elections abroad are spread between the 28-30
so sorted, done. No asking "why", "why not", what if".
Alot of money (we're talking tens of millions here) has been spent on these elections, these ppl seem serious to see it through. On one hand your thinking wouldn't this money been put to better use in Iraq for the ppl there and on another your thinking well they probably really want these elections to work.
Obviously a pretty large bulk of it has been spent on security, a road block or two, security checkpoints (maybe a little reminder of home for some) bag checks and a wired fence surrounding the place. And of course a distance between the security checks and th registration point. And this is a safe country, so this is pretty standard procedure. Wonder what it's like in Iraq or some other slightly safer countries registrations have been held in.
To be honest I wasn't really interested in the elections when I first heard of it, I wasn't against it either. I just didn't see the need of it, like there were more important things that were needed to be done first. But just seeing how dead set all these other countries and their mouthpieces are against it made me change my mind. So yes I'm pretty reactionary, wonder how many other are in the same situation. Especially with all these "people" are killing and murdering iraqis continuously just to stop it happening.
it's not fair for all these people to die for nothing. And think about it if ppl in areas as dangerous as baghdad or kirkuk are willing to risk registering, it would be lame if other in more secure areas wouldn't. And probably the exiles could make up to some of the ppl who can't vote out of fear.
Iraqi Tvs are running campaign ads for groups registered though only a fe of them and usually just the name of the group without mentioning members (would make sense don't want to point out next murder victms)
On kurdish tv they have ads every now and then for turkmen and kurds I think there was one for the christians but I haven't seen it yet. Fay7aa is the only other channel dedicating time and energy on these elections especially for iraqis abroad. Today they interviewed a british man who came into to vote because he was born in baghdad (and this many years ago cos' he was pretty old) i thought that was nice.
I don't know if elections would bring secuirty or make things better but the elections were going to happen anyway at some point in time, delaying it would further increase the bloodshed and prove that the country is working at the will of criminals.
Though one thing is worrying about out of country voting program is that it includes bordering countries. Allowing countries like syria or iran or jordan or turkey to host is asking for trouble. Though I wonder how turkey felt allowing the dual language thing here. You see all the signs in registration and voting polls and the forms included are written in both kurdish and arabic, that must have been good.
I actually wouldn't even be surprised if results in all those countries were tinkered with since counting of votes is done in country and then sent to baghdad. In Jordan for example there are already threats to Iraqis who do vote. What more can you expect of a baathist haven of a country that wants it both ways, use one hand to wave their little american flags for money and then fund and encourage jihadis with the other.
Anyway for more info here's the Out of Country Voting Porgram website (which I should have checked before) and here are some FAQs
What an anti-climax I was allowed to vote and I didn't even have to talk my way through it. The whole thing didn't take 5 mins, well 5 mins from the moment they asked why I wasn't registering.
"no passport? do your parents own an iraqi passport"
"yes" (though only recently)
"anything to prove identity and your relation to your father"
"yes healthcard and a driving liscence"
"let me see, ok fill this form take this recipt come back on the day with it and an ID"
As for voting, the elections abroad are spread between the 28-30
so sorted, done. No asking "why", "why not", what if".
Alot of money (we're talking tens of millions here) has been spent on these elections, these ppl seem serious to see it through. On one hand your thinking wouldn't this money been put to better use in Iraq for the ppl there and on another your thinking well they probably really want these elections to work.
Obviously a pretty large bulk of it has been spent on security, a road block or two, security checkpoints (maybe a little reminder of home for some) bag checks and a wired fence surrounding the place. And of course a distance between the security checks and th registration point. And this is a safe country, so this is pretty standard procedure. Wonder what it's like in Iraq or some other slightly safer countries registrations have been held in.
To be honest I wasn't really interested in the elections when I first heard of it, I wasn't against it either. I just didn't see the need of it, like there were more important things that were needed to be done first. But just seeing how dead set all these other countries and their mouthpieces are against it made me change my mind. So yes I'm pretty reactionary, wonder how many other are in the same situation. Especially with all these "people" are killing and murdering iraqis continuously just to stop it happening.
it's not fair for all these people to die for nothing. And think about it if ppl in areas as dangerous as baghdad or kirkuk are willing to risk registering, it would be lame if other in more secure areas wouldn't. And probably the exiles could make up to some of the ppl who can't vote out of fear.
Iraqi Tvs are running campaign ads for groups registered though only a fe of them and usually just the name of the group without mentioning members (would make sense don't want to point out next murder victms)
On kurdish tv they have ads every now and then for turkmen and kurds I think there was one for the christians but I haven't seen it yet. Fay7aa is the only other channel dedicating time and energy on these elections especially for iraqis abroad. Today they interviewed a british man who came into to vote because he was born in baghdad (and this many years ago cos' he was pretty old) i thought that was nice.
I don't know if elections would bring secuirty or make things better but the elections were going to happen anyway at some point in time, delaying it would further increase the bloodshed and prove that the country is working at the will of criminals.
Though one thing is worrying about out of country voting program is that it includes bordering countries. Allowing countries like syria or iran or jordan or turkey to host is asking for trouble. Though I wonder how turkey felt allowing the dual language thing here. You see all the signs in registration and voting polls and the forms included are written in both kurdish and arabic, that must have been good.
I actually wouldn't even be surprised if results in all those countries were tinkered with since counting of votes is done in country and then sent to baghdad. In Jordan for example there are already threats to Iraqis who do vote. What more can you expect of a baathist haven of a country that wants it both ways, use one hand to wave their little american flags for money and then fund and encourage jihadis with the other.
Anyway for more info here's the Out of Country Voting Porgram website (which I should have checked before) and here are some FAQs
posted by Dilnareen @ | Permalink 
