Observing the Elections in Karbala

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Ninety-year-old Keleje smiled widely as she walked out of the voting station in a school on the edge of Kerbala, where she voted for the first time in her life. Over the doorway of the school a sign in Arabic read, "Today is the real Iraq wedding." Ahmed Mohammed Hussein, an elderly man near a polling station in central Kerbala like other Iraqis in Kerbala, echoed this hopeful spirit as he said, "We voted in a democratic atmosphere. We are happy and hope this will give us a better life." Our group of four CPTers had visited three polling centers as unofficial election observers on January 30, 2005 in Kerbala. At two centers, CPTers were allowed to go into the voting rooms and see the stacks of ballots, the private voting boxes, instructive posters on the walls, and observe voters placing their ballots in two large plastic boxes. Things seemed to be going smoothly. Election workers would count the ballots at each center and take them in sealed boxes to the Independent Election Commission office in Kerbala, before sending them to the national center. There was a holiday atmosphere on the streets. Young and old played on the streets - empty except for police, other official vehicles, bicycles, motorbikes, and pedestrians. Some people walked up to 10km to their voting center because there weren't enough vehicles giving rides. Throughout the day none of the Kerbala polling centers reported any violence or disruption. But not all the responses CPTers heard to the election were positive and hopeful. Yousef Ahmed was frustrated because he had been out of the country and had not returned in time to get registered. A man who had been in prison under Saddam Hussein for 15 years, told team members he and others refused to vote, because after being released, he didn't get any financial help as some others had. "And," he said, "nothing will be changed by it anyway." Another man said that the rosy picture Bush painted of the future for Iraq had turned bloody and that Muqtada Sadr is a nationalist revolutionary who is demanding rights for Iraqi people. Then he added, "We don't even know the candidates." CPTers are thankful that there was no violence throughout this day in Kerbala. It was good to see people feeling hope and enthusiasm. There seemed to be a representative cross section of views and responses to the election process. CPTers knew, however, that in Baghdad and many other parts of the country, there had been numerous suicide bombs and countless Iraqis were afraid to vote. Many question the legitimacy of this vote or that it will unify the people of Iraq. Team members walked back to the hotel that evening, realizing that though the elections seemed on the surface to go well, that they are not likely to bring much change in the quality of life for the common people. If this turns out to be the case, Iraqis will find their new hope and excitement crushed once again.