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Most Fallujah evacuees could not get their December supplies or their voting cards.
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By
Samir Haddad, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD,
December 15 (IslamOnline.net) – Tens, and may be hundreds of
thousands, of Iraqi voters will most likely be unable to cast their
ballots in the general elections slated for January 30, 2005, either
for being homeless or detained by the US-led forces.
Over
300.000 Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, have been forced to leave their homes
in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, due to the continuous shelling that
climaxed in a blistering air and ground sweep by US and Iraqi forces
in November.
Some
10,000 US marines and army forces, alongside some 2,000 Iraqi national
guard soldiers unleashed
a long expected onslaught on the resistance hub Monday,
November 8, capping long nights of massive US raids.
There
are also tens of thousands of detainees, majority of which are also
Sunnis, who are not subject to the Independent Election Commission in
Iraq (IECI).
In
statements to IslamOnline.net Tuesday December 14, the electoral
committee chief Sa’ad Abdel Wahab of the Iraqi Islamic Party (a
Sunni who has recently decided to take part in the elections)
criticized holding elections in Iraq as one constituency.
He
explained that such a system might be acceptable in case of a stable
situation, citing the fact that political parties and powers would
then be able to rally the public everywhere.
“Under
such unstable conditions and the evacuation of whole communities as it
is the case in Fallujah, some 100.000 Sunni voters are not in a
position to cast their ballots, even if election boycotters change
their minds," he resumed.
The
Fallujah evacuees have been dispersed among different Iraqi towns
including Baghdad. They failed to get their December supply rations,
with which they supposed to receive election cards, without which no
one could vote.
“This
means that supporters of a certain party in disturbed governorates may
not cast their votes,” Abdel Wahab added.
He
further added the multi-constituency system was debated by the IECI;
yet, the commission adopted the one-constituency system despite its
points of weakness.
Association
of Muslim Scholars’ spokesman Muthanna
Harith Al-Dari, in a special meeting with IOL,
explained the reason behind many Iraqi powers boycott of elections,
citing technical considerations that do not guarantee the transparency
of the Iraqi election system.
Among
such considerations is the fact that the IECI has considered Iraq,
despite its huge area, into one constituency and assigned to it 25 UN
supervisors; of whom only seven have arrived.
35.000
Detainees
Within
the same context, Abdel Wahab wondered about the votes of thousands of
Iraqi detainees – mostly Sunnis – who are imprisoned in occupation
jails.
The
official of the Iraqi Islamic Party elaborated that “those
detainees, amounting to 35.000, are not included under the IECI voter
lists”.
Abdel
Wahab further cited the daily incursions perpetrated by the occupation
troops and the Iraqi National Guardsmen as dangerous hurdles affecting
the very meaning of elections, pointing out that such incursions have
resulted in many people losing their official documents.
Regarding
out-of-country voting for Iraqi expatriates, Abdel Wahab said that the
process of selecting the 14 states, wherein the elections will be
held, is not accurate.
He
said that the reason is that the IECI “does not have maps on the
Iraqi communities abroad and Iraq does not have embassies in most of
those states so far.”
UN
International Organization for Migration, in charge of Iraqi
expatriates' out-of-country voting, has declared Sunday December 12
that Amman, Jordan, would host the polling center headquarters of
out-of-country voting.
IECI
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Hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave their homes and towns.
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The
IECI represents the highest executive and legislative power that
manages the electoral process mechanism. It consists of seven
independent members selected by the UN out of 1000 candidates.
The
IECI supervises voter registration, determines eligibility criteria,
approves political entities and eligible candidates.
In
the elections, Iraqis will choose a 275-member assembly that will
write a permanent constitution.
If
adopted in a referendum next year, the constitution would form the
legal basis for another general election to be held by December, 2005.
But
representatives of several Iraqi parties and leading political figures
have been stepping up their campaign for delaying the general
elections over the increasing deteriorating security conditions in the
war-torn country.
Meeting
Sunday, December 5, under the banner "Flawed
Elections: Disputed Results",
more than 200 Iraqi politicians and party officials warned that if the
polls went ahead in the current climate of violence the results could
be contested
UN
Iraqi envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned that holding the Iraqi elections
would be impossible unless “first and foremost
security
improves.”
