24 Hours: Iraq Votes.

Iraqi officials say no results or turnout figure expected soon
Sunday January 30, 2005
By MARIAM FAM
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Preliminary results from Iraq's historic election could come as early as Monday, Iraqi officials said Sunday. But final results and an accurate estimate of turnout could take up to 10 days.

Election workers began counting the ballots at polling centers Sunday night after polls had closed, and they were expected to continue throughout the night, officials said. Figures will then be transmitted to a central clearing house in Baghdad, and only then compiled and later released.

Confusion over turnout was widespread Sunday, after the Iraqi electoral commission first announced a whopping 72 percent voter turnout. But they then acknowledged the figure was based only on guesses, and officials quickly backtracked.

``These figures are only very rough, word-of-mouth estimates gathered informally from the field,'' the commission said in a statement late Sunday.

However, the commission said it did believe, based on that anecdotal information, that turnout had exceeded expectations around the country.

The commission had estimated before the vote that about 8 million people or about 57 percent of the country's 14 million eligible voters would cast ballots.

The issue of turnout especially among the country's Sunni Arab minority is highly sensitive. Insurgents and some hardline clerics had called on Sunnis to stay away from the polls, and low Sunni participation could be seen as a victory for the rebels.

The report of 72 percent turnout came from Adel al-Lami, an official with the Independent Elections Committee. He told reporters the figure at mid-day as reports of brisk voting started trickling in.

But when journalists questioned him further about the figure, he and other Iraqi officials quickly backed off.

The top U.N. adviser to the Iraqi election commission, Carlos Valenzuela, said the turnout estimate had been based on nothing more than anecdotal information, or ``impressionistic approximations.''

Commission spokesman Farid Ayar said the initial estimate was based on polling station estimates of voter flow and line lengths, not on actual voting numbers.

Coming up with numbers for the two Sunni provinces where turnout was thought low Anbar and Ninevah might require considerable time because some residents there probably voted outside their provinces, election officials said.

For instance, three voting centers in Baghdad were set up for people from Anbar who had been displaced by the November U.S. assault on the city of Fallujah.

Voters in the different provinces were not asked when they voted whether they were Sunnis or Shiites, so an estimate of Sunni turnout alone might be hard to reach, officials said.

The United Nations is unlikely to come up with its own turnout numbers or evaluate those of the commission, one U.N. official said.

When we hear the stat here it is a percentage of registered voters. Who would tally the number of children and otherwise ineligibles that didn't vote?

Brandon9000 wrote:

Finn d'Abuzz wrote:

It is quite sad to realize that there are prominent people in this country and in the world who are more interested in seeing Bush fail, than the Iraqi people succeed.

My prime concern is for our own democracy and country. While you guys drool over the Iraq-vote love fest....bush inc is picking your pocket.

Well its a good thing we have you minding the store then bipo. We can all engage in an Iraqi-vote love fest knowing that you are around to preserve our own democracy and country...one A2K posting at a time.

I suppose I am the only one on the planet who finds the Iraqi election to be interesting but puzzling at the same time. I can only guess what this election foretells about he future of Iraq and I certainly don't guess that because there was an election there will be a democracy (or even that there should be a democracy) I am also just guessing (blame my inherent stupidty) that in the best interest of the Iraqi people a benevolent dictatship would prove the most valuable in securing civil rights for the people. I find it most interesting that most everyone (from A2k posters to White House pundits are able to rejoice and/or denouce the voter turnout as if they had some inspired vision of what it all may mean in the years to come.

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

Brandon9000 wrote:

Finn d'Abuzz wrote:

It is quite sad to realize that there are prominent people in this country and in the world who are more interested in seeing Bush fail, than the Iraqi people succeed.

My prime concern is for our own democracy and country. While you guys drool over the Iraq-vote love fest....bush inc is picking your pocket.

Well its a good thing we have you minding the store then bipo. We can all engage in an Iraqi-vote love fest knowing that you are around to preserve our own democracy and country...one A2K posting at a time.

I thought you'd never wise up...congratulations....

93 percent of registered Iraq ex-pats vote

IRAQ
Iraq vote turnout estimated at 60-75% Posted Mon, 31 Jan 2005

The Iraqi election commission said on Monday that turnout from the country's first free vote in half a century could be between 60 and 75 percent, although no official figure was ready.

Harith Mohammed Hassan, deputy chief of the Independent Election Commission of Iraq (IECI), said a majority of voters took part in Sunday's election in most provinces.

"We still don't have a final number but we can say it was better than expected. The final percentage could be between 60 and 75 percent," Hassan told AFP.

"The reports from the provinces are very good. In most of the provinces a majority of voters came out."

Referring to the Sunni stronghold provinces, Hassan said that "because of the exceptional circumstances the turnout was not high."

Baghdad and the provinces of Salahuddin, Al-Anbar, Nineveh and Diyala are where Sunni opposition to the election was concentrated.

Hassan said the vote in Nineveh, which includes the insurgent bastion of Mosul, was better than Al-Anbar, where the restive Sunni cities of Ramadi and Fallujah are located.

AFP

An amazing day in Iraq. If they can keep this freedom alive, it truly will be the first domino to fall. Imagine true democracy in the middle east.

I'm sure everyone hopes that the sand maggot terrorists go crawl back in a hole, never to emerge again, due to the strength of the turnout.

But if they don't, do you think we should give up all of the gains that have been made?

Do you think the frogs and the U.N. will want to step in to maintain the state that the U.S. helped create?

I'm sure everyone hopes that the sand maggot terrorists go crawl back in a hole, never to emerge again, due to the strength of the turnout.

But if they don't, do you think we should give up all of the gains that have been made?

cjhsa wrote:

I'm sure everyone hopes that the sand maggot terrorists go crawl back in a hole, never to emerge again, due to the strength of the turnout.

But if they don't, do you think we should give up all of the gains that have been made?

The terrorists are one thing, all out civil war is another.

I'm inclined to continue to nudge the ocean liner back into productive waters, but if it starts to sink, I don't think we should choose to be dragged down with it.

cjhsa wrote:

I'm sure everyone hopes that the sand maggot terrorists go crawl back in a hole, never to emerge again, due to the strength of the turnout.

But if they don't, do you think we should give up all of the gains that have been made?

The terrorists are one thing, all out civil war is another.

I'm inclined to continue to nudge the ocean liner back into productive waters, but if it starts to sink, I don't think we should choose to be dragged down with it.