Iraqis celebrate as voting gets underway

Iraqis danced in the streets as they cast their votes around the world on the first day of the Iraqi elections, organizers said Saturday.

The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration said that 84,429 Iraqi expatriate voters, about 30 % of the total registered, cast their ballot Friday.

“The voters who turned up were enthusiastic and happy,” said IOM spokeswoman Sarah Tosh.

“People were dancing in the streets, there were a lot of emotions,” Tosh told The Associated Press by telephone from Amman, Jordan, where the overseas vote is being organized.

Expatriate voters can cast their ballots Friday through Sunday and numbers are only available for Friday. Voting in Iraq itself takes places Sunday.

IOM is confident that most of the expatriates that registered will turn up again to vote over the three days, Tosh said.

“We’re quite happy with the turnout, obviously,” she added.

The United Arab Emirates recorded the highest proportion of voters, with 49 % - or 6,154 – voting, said IOM, which is conducting the expatriate vote on behalf of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.

Many Iraqis live far from the registration centres, to which they must return to cast their ballots.

Although fewer that one in every four eligible expatriate voters registered, IOM has said it is confident that most will return to those centres to cast their votes.

Just 183 Iraqis, about 18 % of those registered, voted in France, the lowest proportion in any of the 14 countries which have registration centres.

In the United States, 5,643 Iraqis voted, about 22 % of the total registered, IOM said.

The worldwide total of 280,303 Iraqi expatriates who registered is less than a quarter of those eligible to vote, according to IOM.

IOM will collect the votes from each of its expatriate voting centres in 14 countries and then send them on to Baghdad.