Monday, January 24, 2005
Iraqi Vote Turnout to Top U.S.'s
While the U.S. press continues to predict that Iraq's first election in decades will be illegitimate because violence will keep many Iraqis away from the polls, the voters themselves are telling a different story.
A whopping 80 percent of eligible Iraqis now say they intend to vote, amid threats of bombings, kidnappings, beheadings and reports that election workers are afraid to show up to carry out their official duties.
The remarkably high turnout - if it comes to pass - would mean that a third more Iraqis will vote in their election than voted in the U.S. last November, where turnout was 60 percent.
The poll, conducted in late December and early January for the International Republican Institute, went largely unreported by the American media - except for the Washington Post, which buried the news on page A-13 of its Friday edition.
The survey mirrors the expectations of Iraqi officials, who have been predicting a successful turnout for months despite widespread skepticism in the American press.
"I am expecting the turnout of Iraqi voters to be between 70 and 80 percent," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the BBC last week, in comments also ignored by the U.S. media.
Zebari complained that while journalists are trashing Iraqi election prospects, they lauded the recent Palestinian elections, where, he noted, "turnout was 44 percent and yet they were called transparent and legitimate."
While the U.S. press continues to predict that Iraq's first election in decades will be illegitimate because violence will keep many Iraqis away from the polls, the voters themselves are telling a different story.
A whopping 80 percent of eligible Iraqis now say they intend to vote, amid threats of bombings, kidnappings, beheadings and reports that election workers are afraid to show up to carry out their official duties.
The remarkably high turnout - if it comes to pass - would mean that a third more Iraqis will vote in their election than voted in the U.S. last November, where turnout was 60 percent.
The poll, conducted in late December and early January for the International Republican Institute, went largely unreported by the American media - except for the Washington Post, which buried the news on page A-13 of its Friday edition.
The survey mirrors the expectations of Iraqi officials, who have been predicting a successful turnout for months despite widespread skepticism in the American press.
"I am expecting the turnout of Iraqi voters to be between 70 and 80 percent," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the BBC last week, in comments also ignored by the U.S. media.
Zebari complained that while journalists are trashing Iraqi election prospects, they lauded the recent Palestinian elections, where, he noted, "turnout was 44 percent and yet they were called transparent and legitimate."
