Reply #7: Must Iraq poll be nationwide?

[seemslikeadream]

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that Iraq may only be able to hold limited elections in January, as it might not be possible to hold voting in places where violence has been severe.
He told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the commander of US forces in the region might also ask for reinforcements during elections.


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Should the Iraqi elections in January be held nationwide? Would it be sufficient to hold them in selective areas until the violence on the ground subsides? Would Iraqis, and the rest of the world, consider a selective election valid? Send us your comments.


The following comments reflect the balance of opinion received.

Since the US failed to organize proper elections last time and there are serious doubts if they will be able to do so this time (representatives from the EU will monitor the polls), I believe that the US is not up to the task. Maybe they should first get it right within their border before they try to organize election sin other countries.
Xristofors Papakaliatis, Athens Greece


I do not agree with Rumfeld's comment about holding partial elections in Iraq. We should not even have invaded. That being said we are there and we need to get things under control and let the Iraqis chose their own elected officials and get out of there.
Conrad, Reading, USA

If it were the case that the violent radicals in places like Fallujah were for democracy at all, then ensuring nationwide polls would be worth while. But why should the Kurds and the Shia, who, with the exception of Sadr, have been asking for elections, be denied their opportunity to cast ballots? In many areas of the north and south, local elections have already occurred. Let these areas begin the process of electing national representatives in January. After all, to duly elect a representative from Basra only requires votes from Basra.



Any election held under occupation by a foreign power can only be a farcical showpiece. In the chaos and daily slaughter of Iraq the so-called pending "democratic election" is a joke--and a cruel one at that.
Robert Rogerson, Port Alberni-Canada


I wonder how US citizens would feel if someone suggested that, say, Florida should be excluded from the forthcoming presidential election? Not very happy, I imagine. Besides which, Rumsfeld seemed to be giving the impression that you could, in effect, just fence of a specific chunk of Iraq and exclude it from the election. The impression I get is that, far from being confined to a specific region or set of regions, the current violence is geographically widespread, even though it is only perpetrated by a minority of the population. Maybe this is yet another example of how the US tendency to be inward-looking blinds its citizens to the real facts.
David Hazel, Fareham, UK

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3685994.stm