Sorry, y’all, but I’ve been working on my Christmas shopping, so here’s a link dump about this week’s Iraqi parliamentary elections, the nation’s third trip to the polls since the end of the tyranny of Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n
First, let the balloting begin, at least the absentee balloting.<\/p>\n
Iraqis Go to the Polls in 15 Countries<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Iraqi expatriates voting Tuesday for a parliament in their homeland said they want stability and an end to the violence in Iraq. But the voters in 15 countries around the world were as divided on how to get there as as their communities are back home.<\/p>\n Strong voter turnout was seen in polling stations around the world, including in Syria, Jordan and Iran, where Associated Press reporters witnessed heavier turnout compared to Iraq’s landmark January elections. Official turnout figures were not immediately available.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Even for Iraqis in Israel, albeit indirectly.<\/p>\n Israeli-Iraqis can vote in election<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Iraqi law doesn’t bar Iraqi dual-nationals, even those holding Israeli or Iranian passports, from voting in out-of-country polling stations for Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections, a top Iraqi election official said Sunday.<\/p>\n Hamida al-Hussaini, director of out-of-country voting in the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, told reporters that Iraq’s election law says “anyone who carries an Iraqi citizenship has the right to cast ballot in the upcoming parliamentary elections.”<\/p>\n “The law doesn’t state what could be done in the case of dual nationals,” she said, answering a question on whether Israelis or Iranians of Iraqi origin can vote. She avoided specifically naming Israel and Iran.<\/p>\n “How would we know about a person’s other nationality? We will only be checking documents verifying Iraqi nationality,” al-Hussaini said.<\/p>\n Participation by Iraqi-Israelis – numbering an estimated 290,000 – is expected to be limited as there will be no polling stations in Israel and they must vote in another country, said Mordechai Ben-Porat, who led the Jewish underground in Iraq and helped organize the 1950s exodus of Iraq’s Jews.<\/p>\n “If there had been a polling station in Israel, I would definitely go,” Ben-Porat said, adding Jordan will be the closest polling station.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, sucurity is an obvious concern for Thursday’s in-country voting.<\/p>\n Curfew imposed to stop insurgent attacks in Iraq<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n US-led coalition soldiers and the Iraqi security forces last night imposed a nation-wide curfew to try to stop insurgents disrupting tomorrow’s general election. A British military spokesman in Iraq said the “lockdown” meant the borders were sealed from last night to Saturday, and no private or commercial vehicles would be allowed on the roads except those of the security forces and election officers.<\/p>\n A curfew will be in place from 10pm each night. Action against anyone found in the streets defying the curfew will be determined on whether he or she is considered a threat, he said.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n The British military spokesman denied the lockdown was draconian. “Why run the risk of spectaculars against polling stations?” he said. By “spectacular”, he said he meant vehicles loaded with explosives and driven by suicide bombers.<\/p>\n Iraqi police will be positioned at polling stations. About 150,000 members of the 216,000-strong Iraqi army will cordon off the area around the stations to divert suicide bombers. The 150,000-strong US-led coalition will be mainly out of sight but ready to intervene. Local police and election officers will be able to make exemptions to the traffic ban to avoid the disenfranchisement of people living far away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Islamist terrorists and home-grown insurgents seem rather split on the pending election. The predominantly-Sunni insurgency seems to have at least shown a willingness to temporarily embrace the process.<\/p>\n