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Blast rocks Baghdad as Iraqi voting begins
Iraqis went to the polls on Thursday in a watershed election for a full-term parliament, which the international community hopes will restore stability and sovereignty to the strife-torn nation.

Despite blanket security, a huge blast was heard just after voting began, with a security source reporting it occurred inside Baghdad’s heavily-protected Green Zone that houses the Iraqi government and the US embassy.

Details on possible casualties were not immediately available.

The stringent security measures have brought Iraq to a virtual standstill as about 15.5 million Iraqis are called to vote for a new government many hope will restore stability and pave the way for an exit for foreign troops.

The ballot, the third in this year, marks a new beginning for Iraq following the chaos of a lightning US-led drive to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003, two transitional governments and the adoption of a constitution in October.

In a taste of Western-exported pluralism, 7,655 candidates and 307 political entities, nearly triple the number that stood for election in January, are competing for 275 seats in a four-year legislature, with Sunni turnout expected to be much higher this time around.

“It’s a national celebration for all Iraqis,” said President Jalal Talabani, the country’s first Kurdish head of state, who was the first to cast his ballot in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah.

US President George W. Bush said the new democracy would serve as a “model” for the Middle East, a cornerstone of his administration’s policy in the region as Washington increasingly focuses on an ultimate exit strategy from Iraq.

Two years after Saddam was captured by US troops, suicide attacks, shootings and kidnapping are common owing to a deadly insurgency driven by Sunni Arab nationalism and partly hijacked by Al Qaeda.

Halted for the election, the fallen dictator’s trial for crimes against humanity has threatened to exacerbate ethnic tensions in a country increasingly enmeshed in inter-communal violence.

Following purported threats from Al Qaeda to “ruin the ’democratic’ wedding of heresy and immorality”, virtually all Iraq’s 190,000 police and army were mobilized, with US-led troops providing perimeter security for voting stations.

Airports have been closed and land borders and boundaries between Iraq’s 18 provinces sealed. Until Saturday, civilians are banned from carrying weapons and a night-time curfew extended.

Following a campaign marred by political killings and allegations of fraud, more than 120,000 independent observers have been accredited to monitor voting.

Polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) and were to close at 5:00 pm. Millions will have to walk to ballot boxes with only authorised vehicles permitted to drive in order to curb car bombings.

The Shiites and Kurds, who have dominated the transitional administration, are looking to a full-term parliament as a chance to cement their grip on power after decades of oppression.

The Sunni minority, which has largely boycotted the US-led political process until now, is expected to vote en masse.

It is energised by its worst fears -- a government dominated by religious Shiites and a break-up of Iraq into autonomous Kurdish and Shiite zones.

“If we don’t participate we’ll get more killing and destruction,” warned Abdelaziz Al Ani, 42, a teacher from Baghdad.

One insurgent group notorious for kidnapping hostages and often killing them, the Islamic Army in Iraq, has broken from other rebel movements by calling on its militants to spare civilians and not attack voting stations.

A clampdown on chronic instability to allow the roughly 180,000 foreign troops based in Iraq to go home, and the restoration of public services such as electricity and water, are the issues that have dominated campaigning.

“I want a strong government that doesn’t weaken against anyone. We are the richest country in the world but it has been wasted by wars,” said army Lieutenant Mohammed Al Hilali, whose leg was pulverised by a bullet.

The first task of the elected 275 members of parliaments will be to appoint, by a two-thirds majority, a president and two vice presidents.

That presidential council will then have 15 days to name a prime minister, who has 30 days to form a cabinet with parliamentary approval.


Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-12-15
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=137466