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On January 30, 2005, Iraq will be forced to take place in what Bush calls a "grand moment in Iraqi history" - elections under occupational forces.
Elections in any country under occupation could never be free, but the case of Iraq stands out in history. Iraqis will not know the majority of the candidates that will be on the ballot. Iraqis can’t vote individually for candidates; instead they have to choose from over 100 pre-determined combinations of candidates, many of these matching confusing viewpoints and parties. Over half of the candidates have already dropped out of the election in the last few days, meaning the elections continue to become less transparent. Aside from not knowing the candidates, Iraqis will not be told where they can go to vote until the night before the elections happen, meaning that polling areas will need to be staffed at the last minute, creating more confusion.
The occupation continues to create the largest barrier to realizing democracy for Iraqis. Even if Iraqis did know where to vote, occupation forces are closing all borders and the airport for the 3 days before the election. Although 300,000 heavily armed Iraqi security forces will be “in charge”, US occupation soldiers will continue to run the show. With guns over their heads, Iraqis do not feel secure, nor do they feel the elections are legitimate.
Thousands of Iraqis have already chosen to boycott the fake election. Two very influential groups, the Muslim Scholars Association, representing 3,000 mosques, and the Iraqi Islamic Party, the most prominent Sunni group, are calling for a boycott until the occupational forces are gone from Iraq. Within two months the Iraqi National Conference, gathered in Beirut, was able to collect over 1 million signatures from Iraqis opposing the elections because of occupational forces and the applied emergency law. Only 10% of Iraqis living outside of Iraq have registered to vote, again proving the lack of confidence in the imposed elections.
The Arab League and the European Union warn that the elections boycott will affect the credibility of the end result. Even the US government admitted that the election will be flawed due to increased insecurity as more Iraqi parties are refusing to participate in the vote.
In the face of fear and insecurity among the Iraqi population, the US-imposed Iraqi Interim Government will not allow any international elections observers into the country. Elections observers will all be in Amman, Jordan, further demonstrating that the elections are a lie.
In sum, here is the U.S. vision of “free and fair” elections in Iraq: candidates must be anonymous, voters cannot know where to vote, and threats of violence do not matter. We stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people, knowing that democracy at the barrel of a gun is not the road to freedom and security. Reports of voter intimidation and fraud in our own elections prove that we cannot impose elections in other areas of the globe. We must continue to oppose democracy that comes from occupation, and continue to raise our voices against the US occupation of Iraq.
Anti-War
Committee |