Sunnis call Iraq vote illegitimate

[spillmind]

As of 2002, only 40%.

which puts the number of those actually being able to read the ballot they are casting at what?

 

[spillmind]

C'mon now Spilly, be an optimist about things for once. And the troops can't pull out with all the current insurgency then it will all be for nothing. Things changed in Iraq for the better, you just don't want to believe that yet.

i'll try to be an optimist. since most of you think i am just totally negative and don't want iraq to succeed because i hate the evil hypocritcally wanna be christian bush agenda. lol.

actually, if i wanted these people to continually suffer, i wouldn't even care to post at all.

the truth of the matter is, nothing is going to change, there is going to be a civil war between the sunnis and the shi'ites, and the only thing we can go about it is to split up the countries, or continue to get picked off like they have been ever since the day we started the occupation.

i'd love to see stability and peace come to the area.

until that happens, iraq can hold elections every day if they want, it isn't going to change anything.

i'm only stating what i see.

if people see a different picture, feel free to walk the streets of iraq. something allawi or no political figurehead would have the balls (or sense) to do.

just being honest, SE. and i do wish it was different. i don't like beating my head against the wall just be insulted at every turn. trust me.

 

[Said1]

which puts the number of those actually being able to read the ballot they are casting at what?

How many people voted?

 

[manu1959]

i remember when there was an east and west germany

i remember going to check point charlie

i remember walking from east to west berlin

i remember when people were shot trying to get from east to west

i remember the "civil war" between east and west

i remember reading about people saying there would be civl war and that germany would never be united

funny thing there is only one germany now

 

[Said1]

there is going to be a civil war between the sunnis and the shi'ites, and the only thing we can go about it is to split up the countries, or continue to get picked off like they have been ever since the day we started the occupation.

I think the threat of civil war already exsisted, when Saddam was power.

 

[manu1959]

which puts the number of those actually being able to read the ballot they are casting at what?

have you seen one of the ballots? the parties have pictures next to them? their clerics presnt a list of cnaditates and people vote the ticket....hey just like here

 

[5stringJeff]

i'm convinced.

all these things are so great! i was so wrong about a civil war. and i should believe like you do that iraq is going awesome and we can't do a better job.

life is better believing these things anyway

Look, I'm not going to try and say that everything is milk and honey and roses in Iraq. But I'm not going to gloss over the positive events either. I've had lots of friends who are back from Iraq tell good stories, and I've had friends tell stories about the violence as well.

The post that I originally responded to said that you didn't buy into the "dream" that Iraq is embracing democracy. But the events of the last weekend directly contradict that.

 

[manu1959]

I think the threat of civil war already exsisted, when Saddam was power.

exactly, the last two threats resulted in him gassing the kurds and mowing down the shites

 

[Annie]

OK, the dead tree edition does have its place. Saw this thread and remembered this from yesterday:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0502030264feb03,1,4416129.story

By Liz Sly, Tribune foreign correspondent. Tribune foreign correspondent Evan Osnos and Nadeem Majeed contributed to this report
Published February 3, 2005


BAGHDAD -- The hard-line Sunni religious organization that had called on its followers to boycott Iraq's election said Wednesday that it would "respect the choice" of voters and accept the new government, hinting at the beginnings of an accommodation with the political process.

Amid growing concerns about the ramifications of the apparently low voter turnout in Sunni areas, the Association of Muslim Scholars complained that the elections "lack legitimacy because a large segment of different sects, parties and currents boycotted."

But in an apparent softening of its previously resolute rejection of any institution formed while U.S. troops are occupying Iraq, the association said it would not oppose the elected government. The hard-line clerics, who wield influence in the insurgent-infested Sunni heartland, had refused to recognize what they called the "puppet" government of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

"We are going to respect the choice of those who voted and we will consider the new government--if all the parties participating in the political process agree on it--as a transitional government with limited powers," the association said in a statement.

Evidence is emerging that the low turnout in some Sunni areas can be attributed at least partly to a lack of voting sites and materials rather than a boycott by Sunnis heeding the clerics' call. Several Sunni politicians who competed in the election have complained that ballots ran out or election centers failed to open in several key areas, disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters.

Election officials acknowledged that there had been shortages of voting materials in some locations and blamed the dangers of operating in the Sunni heartland where the insurgency rages.

"The conditions were very severe," said election commission spokesman Farid Ayar.

Christian leaders also said ballots were not available in some Christian villages west of Mosul, denying an estimated 35,000 members of Iraq's small Christian community the opportunity to vote.

"We don't know whether the ballots were kidnapped or whether they never arrived, but the rights of those people were swallowed," said Yonadem Kanna, head of the Assyrian Democratic Movement.

The results of Sunday's historic vote still are being tallied, and officials have not released the nationwide turnout. But all available evidence points to a sharply lower turnout in Sunni areas than Shiite ones.

A Western diplomat who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said turnout in the unruly western province of Anbar had been "quite low." In two other restive Sunni provinces, Salahuddin and Nineveh, there was more voting but still less than 50 percent participation, the diplomat said.

The turnout nonetheless appears to have exceeded expectations. One reason ballots ran out in some locations was that election organizers had underestimated the number of Sunnis who wanted to vote.

"The total [involved] in the process was unexpected," Ayar said.

In the Baghdad neighborhood of Adhamiyah, a notorious insurgent stronghold where no polling stations opened, some residents voiced regret that they were unable to vote.

"I feel sad because I didn't participate in this first democratic experiment in the country," said Abu Omer al-Dawoudi, 53, a grocery store owner who said he would have voted if there had been a polling station nearby. Although people in Adhamiyah had been told they could vote in the neighboring Cairo district, 3 miles away, al-Dawoudi said he did not dare walk that far under threat of insurgent violence.

Iraqi leaders now are focusing their efforts on ways to include Sunnis in the process. Allawi held a meeting at his offices in the Green Zone that brought together leading officials from all the major political parties, including the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, another Sunni group that boycotted the election.

Adnan Pachachi, a moderate Sunni leader who attended the meeting, said he believes the Sunnis who called for a boycott are starting to regret their stand.

"I think they realize this was a mistake," Pachachi said. "They have seen the desire of the people who voted ... and they realize they can't go on being sidelined like this."

 

[Yurt]

was there not food at the polling stations?

do the people have any other option in their lives when the world around them is reduced to rubble?

what is the literacy rate in iraq? and how many people could read the ballots without help?

how is this going to bring order to iraq?

and when will the troops pull out, proving that it is a legitimate, stable democracy?

let's be honest about things, jeff.

You have yet to answer the question of your authority on this quote. For instance, how do you now there was food handouts at the voting booths?

For that matter, so what? The Iraqis are in a current war zone, offering food at voting polls where most people probably waited hours to vote, is not "suspicious" as you would have us believe.

Think outside your box and consider the real situation of the Iraqis. Those that did vote should be praised, not belittled by someone living in Palo Alto that has the opportunity to vote without being told that if they vote they and their family will be targets for destruction. It must be nice living where you live and having the ability to belittle the courage of a people that stained their finger (which would make them targets for about a week) to vote, to make a change, to create a country.

 

[OCA]

I'm a little late on this but the answer is simple....their glory days are over, they are not happy about it which is why the resentment. They may or may not ever come to grips with this, who knows?

 

[Annie]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/washpost/a63293_2005feb4

Influential Sunni Arab leaders of a boycott of last Sunday's elections expressed a new willingness Friday to engage the coming Iraqi government and play a role in writing the constitution, in what may represent a strategic shift in thinking among mainstream anti-occupation groups.