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Kurds turn out in large, peaceful crowds for vote

By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN
Published January 31, 2005

	[Times photo: John Pendygraft]
	An Iraqi woman casts her vote at a polling station near Irbil on Sunday. Voters in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq made a strong showing at the polls, despite insurgent threats.
	Related 10 News videos: Voting begins in Iraq's first free election in a half-century Local Iraqi-Americans return home after voting. Vote brings Iraqis together, showcasing determination and courage

IRBIL, Iraq - Shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, Qanaa Ayub emerged from Polling Center No. 211 looking excited, though a little confused.

How did she vote?

"I don't know - ask him," Ayub replied, pointing to her 20-year-old son.

"She voted for freedom," he said with a smile.

People stood at cardboard booths, dropped their ballots in plastic storage containers and stuck their fingers in ink to show they had voted. In more than a few cases, those who couldn't read or write got help from relatives and polling officials.

But here in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, whatever the election lacked in sophistication, it made up in smoothness. In large, peaceful numbers, Kurds turned out for a chance to influence the direction of the country in which so many had been oppressed for so long.

There were the very young people at the polls.

After she dipped her right index finger in ink, Deruz Ali did the same with that of her year-old daughter Bushra.

"It is for the memories," Ali said. "We will take a photo."

There were very old people.

Haybat Abdullah, 83, hunched over her cane and shuffled between her daughter and grandson.

"It is a blessing," she said in a whisper. "It is a happy day."

It was a long day, too, for thousands of election workers. At Perzeen, a village north of Irbil, the polls were still so busy at 4 p.m. that Mohammed Arab hadn't left his spot all day. "The biggest problem is me - I've been here since six, and I haven't eaten yet," said Arab, who monitored the voting for one of the Kurdish political parties.

With no election violations to report, Arab amused himself watching voters struggle to figure out which ballot went into which box. Kurds voted in three elections: for Iraq's 275-member Transitional National Assembly; for a Kurdish assembly; and for local offices.

"It will be another 20 years before this nation knows how to put a ballot in a box," he said.

About the only complaint at most polling places was that the ballot boxes - which looked remarkably like Tupperware containers - were not big enough to hold the huge paper ballots for the national assembly election. More Kurds voted in that race because they want an influential voice in the body that will decide Iraq's future.

By midafternoon, boxes containing ballots for the local and Kurdish elections looked only half-full. Meanwhile, election workers were shaking the national assembly boxes, trying to get those ballots to settle so more could be stuffed in.

Although Kurdish areas are among the safest in Iraq, security was heavy at all polling stations. Sharpshooters stood on nearby rooftops, and streets were blocked off as voters waited in long lines to be searched.

Women and children were ushered into small, heated booths to be frisked by female guards; men had to stand in the chilly air.

Voting, too, was generally segregated by sex, though families typically voted together - often because one or more members were illiterate.

"Probably 15 to 20 percent need help - mostly old people, but you also have some young people who are uneducated," said Hemin Mohammad, manager of a polling station in the city of Salahadin.

Many women arrived at the polls wearing black headscarves and cloaks, or abayas. Not Khawar Zirar, a student who let her long hair float loose. She attracted considerable male attention in a black velvet gown adorned with gold and ruby stars and half-moons.

"This is traditional Kurdish dress," she said, "and this is an important day for the Kurds, which is why I wear this."

To increase chances that Iraq's 5-million Kurds get a significant bloc of seats in Iraq's new assembly, the two main Kurdish political parties set aside their differences and fielded a joint list of candidates. Kurds hope the assembly will draft a constitution that gives them considerable autonomy.

During Saddam Hussein's regime, more than 500,000 Kurds were killed, forced from their homes or disappeared. Kurds retain a deep distrust of Sunni Arabs, who controlled Iraq in Hussein's day, but also fear that the Shiite Arab majority might turn Iraq into an Islamic state. Many Kurds are secularists who enjoy their music and beer.

After voting in the three elections, Kurds went into nearby tents to sign petitions calling for a referendum on whether to remain part of Iraq or seek independence.

Nashida Dinah, voting in the ethnically diverse village of Ainkawa, said she would choose independence if given the chance.

"We want some rest," said Dinah, who works in the Kurdish Ministry of Health. "Our past was very sad, and we want a prosperous future for our kids."

[Last modified February 1, 2005, 18:19:20]