Iraqis went to the polls for the fourth time on Saturday, with elections in 14 of the country's 18 provinces. The New York Times Op-Ed page asked three Iraqi bloggers for their impressions of the day.The thrill is gone LAST Saturday, as millions of Iraqis dipped their fingers in little vials of purple ink after they cast their votes, I was in Baghdad sending messages about the events of the day to Twitter, the micro-blogging platform. An hour before the polls closed I received a message from a friend in America, John, who was wondering if the Obama administration was helping or hurting the elections in Iraq. My knee-jerk reaction was to write back, “John, why should it matter?” But his question wasn't totally out of place. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, what happens thousands of miles in Washington has always had a direct effect on our lives in Iraq. So what was surprising about last Saturday is that it didn't. In our council elections, the United States was far less relevant to Baghdadis than concerns about the state of services and the lack of rebuilding and jobs. Voters were more interested in the candidates' stance on corruption in our government than their positions on American forces. Although you can still see the spark in the eyes of Iraqis as they dip their fingers in the indelible ink, there is an air of “been there, done that,” indicating that the novelty of voting has disappeared. We understand the process — we've done it four times. Another remarkable change is how uneventful the day was. We woke fearing the worst, but it didn't happen. An explosion here or there, but frankly, what day in Iraq passes without one? From where I live, it looks as if the Iraqi police and Army managed to keep it a relatively violence-free day. It was clearly far from perfect. In many places people were denied the right to vote when their names couldn't be found in the registers. The huge number of candidates — nearly 15,000 for 440 seats on the councils of the 14 provinces holding elections — isn't really a sign of political maturity, but rather shows a combination of greed and ignorance about the duties of council members. But, by Allah, we're looking at our own politicians for answers instead of looking abroad. If we manage to repeat this success in the national elections at the end of this year, I think we can confidently say that we've got the hang of this democracy thing. – Salam Pax, The Baghdad Blogger (salampax.wordpress.com) Purple pride I WOKE up with hope, hope for Iraq to be taken along the correct path by its sons. I woke to the noises voters were making in the street. As I dressed I was thinking about how different this election would be. Most of the people I know were not voting based on sects, but on sense. We are sick to death of corruption and sectarianism, and desperate for a change. Many people I spoke to had no faith in the credibility of the elections, thinking that the winners were already decided. But they wanted to do their part, hoping they might be wrong. Others voted to satisfy their consciences — especially after some religious leaders announced that it would be a sin not to participate. I opened the door and I felt a very soft breeze. The weather was great, neither hot nor cold, perfect for a walk in the car-free streets, a walk along the sacred road to democracy. Yet with every step my hopes were crushed by a sad reality: there were far fewer people heading to the polls than there had been in previous elections. Still, there were some scenes that filled my heart with joy: for example, an elderly woman, so stooped she could barely walk, pushing her husband to a polling station in his wheelchair. With the sparse crowds, I had only a short wait before the employee found my name in the list and gave me my voting paper. I took it to the booth and chose what I believed was best for Baghdad, then I painted my finger purple — it might look ugly, but I like it and I'm proud of it. At the same time, a child reached the table and insisted on painting his finger, too; everybody smiled because he was so happy about it. On my way home I developed an obsession of looking at the fingertips of every man and woman I passed. Too many had no ink. I hope the electoral committee does its part better than we did. I hope the election will not be fraudulent and the winners will not let us down. And I hope the people who didn't vote this time will do so next time, and a real democracy will be achieved in the land where the first laws of the human race were set. – Dr. Mohammed, Last of Iraqis (last-of-iraqis.blogspot.com) Divided in Mosul A FEW days before the elections, I asked my friends if they were going to vote, and whom they were going to choose. They had very different ideas, and I really could not make up my mind. I was even not sure whether I would go. But then my friend Mohammed said something that made up my mind: “It does not matter whom you are going to vote for, just make sure to vote and take part in the elections. It is our responsibility toward our city to choose good people or at least avoid the bad ones.” Early Saturday morning, I got a bunch of text messages on my cellphone asking me to vote for Mohammed Shakir, the Iraqi Islamic Party's candidate for governor of Nineveh Province. Not me: we gave the Islamic Party a chance in previous elections, but they disappointed. There was a surprisingly large number of people at the polling place, but everything was well organized. My father voted for candidates from Al Hadba, a Sunni Arab coalition that was expected to have a good day. My mother went for the Islamic Party. Talking to my friends afterward, I discovered that almost none of us had voted the same way. But we agreed that this election will be critical to our future. Mosul has been one of the most violent spots in Iraq, almost unbearable to live in. We have electricity for only two to four hours a day. The provincial council is responsible for public services and local security; it is now dominated by Kurds, even though Arabs are the vast majority in Mosul. The Kurds undoubtedly voted for their own candidates, while the Arab vote was most likely splintered. In the end, I guess, no one group will dominate; we must hope the new council will make a change for the better. – Bookish, Mosul is in heart (mssw.blogspot.com) __
