Democracy under the gun
Preparing to vote, Iraqis wonder if elections will lead to peace or more chaos
BAQUBAH--On the eve of Iraq's first democratic election, a local television station in this restive city north of Baghdad decided to host a candidates' debate. A handful of prospective politicians were invited to discuss the core issues--deteriorating security, U.S. troops on Iraqi soil, the prospect of democracy in a nation traumatized by war--and the scene was set with hot, white lights and a couple of TV cameras in front of a wall garishly plastered with stickers in Arabic that proclaim, "Everyone [heart] Iraq."
But much like the elections themselves, scheduled for January 30, the exercise was hardly textbook democracy. Most candidates, too afraid to reveal their names and faces on television, didn't show up. Nor did the group of students invited to question them. Still, the show would go on--albeit Iraqi style. Provincial governor Abdullah Rashid al-Jabouri, whose name will appear on local ballots on a candidate list called "Diyala's Elite," sat down for the cameras across from a local representative of the Communist Party. The TV screen flickered with a gory montage of charred bodies, explosions, and U.S. troops stepping over bloodied, dead men, and then it was time to talk politics. "To boycott elections does not serve our people!" Akram Khadouri, the Communist, said into the camera, in hopes of reaching a fearful and disenchanted public who may stay home on election day. "If we all stand together, we can overcome a lot of difficulties."
Nameless and faceless. There's a lot to overcome. More than eight electoral workers have been killed and hundreds threatened with death, including the top electoral official in Mosul, who resigned after his family was threatened. Political assassinations and the threat of car bombs at public gatherings have largely precluded holding political rallies. And unlike most any other election, many of the candidates vying for the 275 seats in the national assembly--to be tasked with forming the transitional government and writing a constitution--are nameless and faceless to the public who will vote for ad hoc slates cobbled together by political, tribal, and religious leaders.
In some parts of the country, namely the Shiite-dominated southeast and the Kurdish northern region, the conditions are more conducive to elections. But the violence in four largely Sunni Arab provinces is likely to keep a significant number of Iraqis from voting. "The issue is not whether or not I want to vote, but whether the circumstances for that are healthy," said Ziad al-Rawi, 54, a retired Army general. "The elections are not legitimate. How can they happen when cities are bombed, women and sheiks are killed?"
Pulling it off, and making it look right, will be a test not only for U.S. troops but especially for the fledgling Iraqi military, which has been targeted by the insurgency and, as a result, is riddled with desertions. The interim Iraqi government has declared a three-day national holiday around election day, and the roads will be shut down to keep would-be suicide bombers at bay. U.S. troops will provide an outer cordon of security, but it will be up to Iraqis to provide security at the polls. "There will not be an American soldier in a helmet standing there as Iraqis drop the ballot into the boxes," said a western diplomat in Baghdad.
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