Iraqi expats in US to vote in historic election

Thousands of Iraqi expatriates were expected to register in five US cities today for their homeland’s first independent election in nearly 50 years, with some travelling hundreds of miles to participate in the historic event.

“This is an historic event taking place on American soil,” said Basim Ridha Alhussaini, an Iraqi expatriate responsible for training some 320 election workers in Southern California. “This has never happened before.”

Registration was possible at seven sites in Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, Chicago and Washington DC. The seven-day registration period ends on January 23. Voting will begin on January 28 and continue until the January 30 election in Iraq.

Potential voters have to appear in person twice in a two-week period – once to register and again to vote – because of fears of voter fraud. Eligible voters are Iraqi citizens, those entitled to reclaim Iraqi citizenship, or those born to an Iraqi father.

Voters are being asked to pick members of the 275-member Assembly, which will have a one-year mandate. Their responsibilities will include electing a president and two deputy presidents, and drafting Iraq’s Constitution.

Alhussaini, 41, supervised the training of election workers over the weekend, quizzing them on who may vote and what documents are required from registrants.

Some Iraqi leaders are worried fewer voters will turn out because they will have to travel hundreds of miles to reach a polling site. The decommissioned El Toro Marine Base in Irvine, for example, is the only polling station in the western United States.

Election officials estimate up to 35,000 Iraqis will register and vote there. “I think we’re going to lose some voters, but we’re lucky to have an office here at all,” Alhussaini said.

The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq in Baghdad authorised an out-of-country vote in November and enlisted the non-governmental International Organisation of Migration to organise it. The commission pledged up to $92m (€70.1m) for the election.

There are about 90,000 Iraqi-born immigrants in the United States, according to the 2000 US Census. No-one is sure how many will vote, in part because of the difficulty of reaching polling places that are hundreds of miles away and uncertainty about the numbers of second-generation Iraqi-Americans.

Other nations hosting overseas polling are Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria and the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.