UK Iraqis go to the polls
Exiled and expatriate Iraqis living in Britain go to the polls today to vote in Iraq’s first-ever free election.
Voting booths have been set up in Manchester, London and Glasgow and will be open from 0700 GMT on Friday to 1700 GMT on Sunday.
The Iraqi Community Association (ICA) estimated that around 150,000 Iraqis in Britain are eligible to vote.
But, voter registration figures have been disappointing with only around 30,000 set to vote.
The ICA points out that the number of UK Iraqis able to participate has been limited by the need to travel to one of only three centres to register, and then again to vote.
It also points to delays in receiving voting information from Jordan, where the International Organisation for Migration which is organising the elections is based, and poor translation of necessary documents.
Iraqis are set to vote for a president and a 275-member Transitional National Assembly, which will be charged with drafting a new Iraqi constitution.
The draft constitution is scheduled to be presented to the Iraqi people in October, with a new national government under a permanent constitution set to be elected by the end of 2005.
Chairman of the ICA Ahmed Khudhair said the election was “a significant milestone in the process of building a free democratic Iraq”.
The three polling stations are located in the Wembley conference centre, London; the Sheridan Suite, Manchester; and 71 Holland Street, Glasgow.
Full information can be accessed through theIraq out of country voting programme website.
In Iraq itself, the violence is continuing. The start of the vote came after a double suicide bomb in Baghdad killed at least 11 people in the centre of the Sunni city of Samarra.
Earlier, at least five people were killed in clashes between insurgents and Iraqi soldiers backed by US forces.
On Wednesday, 37 US soldiers were killed in one of the bloodiest days of fighting since the fall of Saddam.
Islamist rebels the Army of Ansar al-Sunna posted a “final warning” on Thursday calling on Iraqis to stay away from the polls.
The group said anyone voting would be marked for death.
Separately, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced Britain is to send a temporary contingent of 220 troops to Iraq to cover the Dutch soldiers who will leave in March. A total of 400 British troops will be withdrawn after the elections.
