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Cairo
25 July 2009
As polls closed Saturday, Iraqi Kurds are hoping the results, expected
in two to three days, will help ease tensions with Baghdad over oil and
land disputes that threaten the stability in the self-ruled region.
Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party (PUK) and
veteran Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP)
are expected to keep control over the Kurdish parliament, but face a
strong challenge from younger opponents.
It is the first time
the president of Kurdistan is being elected directly by popular vote.
Parliamentary elections were last held in 2005.
Kurdish
television showed top political leaders casting their ballots, and
encouraging their supporters to follow their example and vote.
From Washington, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urged Kurdish voters to use their right to vote:
He
says that it is imperative for Kurds to turn out and vote in large
numbers, in what we hope will be a clean, transparent election. Kurds,
he says, have the chance to choose their leaders, who will play a role
alongside those of other Iraqi regions, who on the national level will
help build a democratic, federal, independent, stable and prosperous
Iraq.
Breakaway Kurdish politician Nusherwan Mustafa, who's
Party of Change is fighting to clean up what he calls "nepotism,
corruption, and cronyism" has pockets of support across Kurdistan, but
is unlikely to win a majority in parliament.
Mr. Barzani, whose
father Mustapha was the champion of Kurdish nationalism for decades,
told a press conference that he hoped to resolve frictions with Baghdad
over the oil-rich, ethnically divided city of Kirkuk.
He says
that the problem of Kirkuk is a constitutional issue and that it must
be solved according to the constitution. Such problems, he adds, must
be solved and we hope that they will be solved. Letting problems
fester, he argues, can have bad consequences.
Minor glitches in
an otherwise smooth election process were cited by election observers,
such as the use of the wrong kind of ink, inaccurate voting lists and
rival gangs of young men pulling down campaign posters.
Judge
Qassem Abboudi of Iraq's Electoral Commission told al Hurra TV that
polling stations were expected to send ballot boxes to commission's
headquarters, after the last voters had voted:
He says that
polling stations are sending ballot boxes to the central headquarters
of the Electoral Commission, where they will be given bar codes, before
ballots are tabulated electronically.
Ethnic tension between
Kurds and Arabs, particularly in Kirkuk, also is considered a threat to
Iraqi stability, and is a major issue for many voters.
Despite increased security measures for the election, a roadside bomb detonated in Kirkuk, wounding four policemen.
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