| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraqi Kurds end voting; feud with Baghdad looms |
| 2009-07-27 |
| [Mail and Globe] Iraqi Kurds voted on Saturday in polls expected to keep President Masoud Barzani in power in Kurdistan and unlikely to allay voters' worries about corruption or end a feud with Baghdad over land and oil. Ballots were provisionally counted after voting was extended for one hour in the largely autonomous region. A final tally is expected to take at least two or three days. Turnout was high, at 78,5% across Kurdistan, the Electoral Commission said. Women smiled as they showed purple-stained fingers to TV cameras after voting. Barzani, a former guerrilla leader, looked certain to defeat five competitors, the first time the relatively peaceful northern enclave has elected a president directly. The region's powerful ruling parties -- Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Democratic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd -- are running jointly against 23 alliances of smaller parties. "The process was carried out successfully," Electoral Commission chief Faraj al-Haidari said in a news conference. "Generally speaking, there were no violations, no polling station closed and the process was never interrupted." During the campaign, Kurdish leaders have churned out fiery rhetoric on claims to territories they contest with Baghdad's Arab-led government. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 feud with Baghdad looms Every cloud... |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-07-27 04:07 |