Iraqis living in the United States will be permitted to vote in the Iraqi elections in Chicago and four other US cities, if they qualify for Iraqi citizenship.
Iraqi citizens in the United States are getting a taste of the hope–and the logistical headaches–created by the upcoming Jan. 30 elections in Iraq with the news that Chicago and four other U.S. cities will serve as polling sites.
The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that it will organize registration and election facilities in Chicago as part of an ambitious last-minute effort to let expatriates vote in at least 11 countries.
Iraqis in Chicago and the other selected cities–Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville and Washington–view the plan as finally sating their thirst for democracy.
But Iraqi immigrants in other areas are angrily complaining that their distance from polling sites threatens the legitimacy of the election, as voters must both register and cast ballots in person.
Jeremy Copeland, spokesman for Iraq’s Out-of-Country Voting Program, said election organizers realize the logistics are not perfect. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq chose the IOM, a Geneva-based intergovernmental group, to run the election less than two months ago.
“We’re trying to include as many people as possible, given the limited time frame and resources that we have, to make this as clean and transparent as possible,” Copeland said. “This is an Iraqi election. Even though we could not be completely inclusive, they felt like it was important to include this `expat’ vote.”
Election organizers said they focused on the largest Iraqi population centers abroad by consulting census data and meeting with immigrant leaders. Illinois is home to nearly 10,000 Iraqi-born residents, the third-largest population in the country, according to the 2000 census.
To participate in the election, which will select representatives to Iraq’s National Assembly, residents must be at least 18 and be eligible for Iraqi citizenship.
