Getting out the vote

Iraq | Despite violence, Iraqis flock to the polls in nationwide elections | Mindy Belz

Associated Press/Photo by Khalid Mohammed

As Iraqi author and Johns Hopkins professor Fouad Ajami likes to point out, there are no democracies in the Arab world, except Iraq. It's an important point in reviewing March 7 parliamentary elections—Iraq's third nationwide elections since the 2003 U.S. invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. Despite violence and voting that to outsiders appeared confusing, the elections by the region's measure were a success.

Undeterred by bombings and attacks leading up to the elections, 62 percent of eligible Iraqis turned out to vote—a process that extended not only to all provinces of the country but to Iraqis living overseas, and including those who are refugees in nearby countries. While voting was down in Baghdad, where scattered bombings killed over 30, voting was remarkably up in other areas: In Anbar Province, where some of the worst fighting of the war has taken place, 61 percent voted compared to a turnout of just 2 percent there in 2005. In Nineveh Province, where targeted attacks killed approximately 20 Christians in the weeks preceding the elections, turnout was 67 percent.