Sunnis abroad express desire to participate
DAMASCUS- Majdoline Hatoum
While Iraqi Sunnis are expected to boycott the country’s landmark elections later this month, Sunnis residing in neighboring countries, particularly in Syria, are expected to take part in the polls, according to the organizers of the Iraq Out-of-Country-Voting (OCV) program. Iraqis scattered across the globe, from Lebanon to Australia, are eligible to vote in the Jan. 30 Transitional National Assembly elections. Under an agreement brokered between the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI), up to a million expatriate Iraqis are expected to take part in the poll.
“Iraqis from all ethnic and religious groups are very enthusiastic about getting the chance to vote,” explains Luis Martinez-Betanzos, head of the Iraq OCV program in Syria. “And everyone I have met is stressing that the Iraqi community residing outside Iraq wants to have a say in the elections.”? Talking to The Daily Star following a conference held by the IOM – which is conducting the OCV program on behalf of the IECI – on Wednesday, Martinez-Betanzos said even Sunni Iraqis were geared up for taking part of the elections.
?“Whether they are Christians, Sunnis or Shiites, they have expressed their desire to participate in the voting process taking place by the end of the month,” says Martinez-Betanzos. Sunni Muslims, who make up about 20 percent of the Iraqi population, have grown increasingly estranged following the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime which also increased the political clout of the Shiite community.? Almost all of the country’s leading Sunni politicians have called for either postponing the elections or boycotting them. Given the violence in Sunni areas, even voters who wish to take part may hesitate to turn out. In some places, the polls may not open at all. But Martinez-Betanzos insists the boycott only applies to Sunnis in Iraq.
“I don’t think we will face this problem here in Syria,” he says. His optimism is based on meetings he has held with Iraqi Sunnis in Syria, who he says have all expressed a desire to participate in the election. Amal Alazza, the IOM official responsible for training the Iraqis who will man the polling booths, believes exile has made the country’s diaspora less concerned about religious differences. “The sectarian divide is not perhaps as apparent among those Iraqis who live outside Iraq,” she says. Registering for the elections takes place from Jan. 17 to Jan. 23 in Damascus, and those who wish to vote have to be over 18 years old and must present at least two acceptable forms of documentation, such as a passport, birth certificate or driving license, to registration officials to prove they are Iraqi. Martinez-Betanzos said that the OCV has been conducting training sessions and awareness campaigns for Iraqis to inform them of the steps they should take to be able to participate in the elections.
“More than 1,000 Iraqis residing in Syria have been trained to work in polling centers in Damascus,” he explains. “However, we are facing a major obstacle in our work, which is the lack of time.”?Syria was the last country to sign the agreement with the IOM on Jan. 2.
He also said that these elections – which will take place in 14 countries around the world from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30 – would face international monitoring, as well as observation from Iraqi political parties present in Syria – including the Iraqi Baath Party.
“The European Union is monitoring in Amman and they might be sending someone to Syria, and we also have people from the United Nations to do the same.”
“But the most important thing is the Iraqi observation; we have Iraqi groups learning understanding and observing the elections, which will be a historic event in the new Iraq.”
14-1-2005
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Assyrian Democratic Organization ADO
