Iraqi expatriates cast first votes

Washington: Iraqis abroad cast the first ballots in their country's election on Tuesday, two days before their compatriots vote for postwar Iraq's first full-term Parliament.

From Australia through the Middle East to the US, 557 polling stations opened in 15 countries where more than one million Iraqis were eligible to vote abroad.

Organisers expect a higher turnout over three days of voting than in a January 30 poll for an interim Assembly when only a quarter of eligible Iraqis cast ballots abroad.

In the US, there were eight polling places for an estimated 240,000 Iraqi-Americans eligible to vote, including three in California, which has the largest concentration of expatriate Iraqis.

"It is huge, especially for my parents because they never voted in their lives and they spent the majority of their lives in Iraq," said 28-year-old accountant Ahmad Hakeem of Irvine, California, who came vote with his mother and father.

California polling officials said voters came from as far away as Texas, Arizona and Washington.

"The distance doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is that we vote," said Abdul Almansori, a 42-year-old truck driver from Dallas who traveled to southern California with his wife and three children.

Voting is limited to Iraqi citizens and people whose fathers are citizens.

Turning point in Iraq history

"It's a turning point in Iraqi history. I believe that yes, there will be some difficulties in creating a new government, but step-by-step Iraqis will go forward," said Dahoud Abdul Rahman, who voted in the Washington suburb of McLean, Virginia.

A young man who gave his name as Kosrat said the chance to vote had made this "the biggest day of my life."

Suhad Turayhi, a spokeswoman for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, which is in charge of voting abroad, said she expected twice as many exiles to cast ballots in Skokie, Illinois, compared to the roughly 6,000 in January's vote.

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The polling station in suburban Chicago drew Iraqi voters from around the Midwest. Three busloads came in from Nebraska.

Iraqi-Americans in the Detroit area, where about 150,000 are eligible to vote, were brimming with hope as they milled around polling venues in Dearborn, Michigan.

"I cannot wait to see a full-term democratic government in Iraq," said 48-year-old Karzan al-Khatib kissing his index finger, which was purple with the ink used to prevent duplicate voting.

"The ink stays for a while, so now I carry around the mark of Iraqi democracy for two weeks," he said.

Electoral officials said voters turned out in Australia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates with no logistical or security problems reported.

"Everything is going smoothly," said Hamdieh Husseini, an official of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.

Iraqis in Australia, where about 11,000 eligible voters were expected to take part, were the first expatriates to vote.

In the Syrian Capital Damascus there was only a trickle of voters at one of the country's 11 polling centers but organizers were enthusiastic.

"It is more like a wedding than an election. Iraqis left their work, school and homes - some with infants, others elderly or handicapped" to vote, said electoral official Asmaa Yaseen Al-Hassan.

Security was tight around polling venues in Jordan where police set up roadblocks and guards used metal detectors to check all those entering the vote centers.

Turnout was moderate among Iraqi exiles in Shi'ite Iran where Saddam Hussein's fall has warmed ties between the former enemies who fought an eight-year war between 1980-1988.

"I hope violence ends and democracy flourishes in my country," said Nahid Dandebar, 42, at a polling station in central Tehran.

Organizers said about 81,000 Iraqis were eligible to vote in Iran.