the elections - a big day in Iraq

[Dan T]

I thought a perspective from inside Iraq might interest some of you.

The pundits all predicted a spike in the level of violence. The Iraqi Govt shut down it's international borders and closed all the road to vehicular traffic inside the country. We've been confined to the international zone (green zone) for a few days now.

In the mean time, almost nothing has happened, except that something more than 10 million people are going to the poles to fill 400 elected slots from a candidate pool of 14000. Rumor has it a significant fraction of the population might actually cross sectarian lines and vote for the individuals that they believe will best represent them.

I can't tell you first hand very much about what is going on in the cities and villages outside the green zone, largely because I can't get out there, but I can tell you that there are posters and campaigners everywhere and there has been very little sectarian violence so far.

If the Iraqis get the turnout they are forecasting it will mean a voter participation rate of over 80%. We should do so well.

Dan T
in Baghdad