Eyes on Ballot Boxes, Ears on Bombs in Iraq
No vehicles are permitted to approach the election centers, which are surrounded by barbed wire. Civil vehicles are banned from coming closer than 20 meters from military convoys in the streets of the city where the US soldiers patrol. Military vehicles have sheets hanging on them with "Don’t Approach" written in Arabic. Fearing possible bomb attacks on the Election Day, the Iraqi and the US security forces will allow only vehicles with special permission to drive on the streets. Even the vehicles driven by journalists have to stick the permission clearly on the front windows of the vehicles.
While the public concerned about possible attacks on the one side, they also experience concern for how to cast a vote in an election for the first time. The Iraqi public have to choose a party or a candidate from the long election list and use their identity cards or food supply reports.
Although Kirkuk did not face any fighting during the US operation, it is like a city coming out of a war. The roads have large potholes and the city is almost never cleaned. Despite this, there are many expensive cars on the streets. Some locals say that these cars are the products of looting during the war.
Despite the curfew order, which has been implemented in Kirkuk on the eve of the election, noises of mortar and guns are heard from time to time. US planes are constantly patrolling the air. The Kirkuk public that we spoke to do not hide their concerns about the elections. The Turkmen are concerned about the influx of Kurds. Turkmen Imam Omar Ayed wants an election without any problems and said: "We were leaving in peace here with the former Kurds in our district before those new Kurds came to settle. While Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens were living in peace all together, now these men have been paid to come to destabilize the situation. Those people are problematic."
Hidayet Emen, 75, a Turkmen sitting in a coffee house, also said: "We settled here before anyone. Kurds are being brought to the region. This area is a Turkmen, Arab and Kurd province with shared culture and songs, but they are trying to create chaos." Belkis Cabuk, the chairman of the Iraqi Women Rights Organization determined that elections were far from being democratic and added that they had applied to the United Nations (UN) and the Court of Justice to present their concerns. Belkis Cabuk, the sister of the former Provisional Council member Songul Cabuk, said their organization had 83 observers in Kirkuk and emphasized that Kurds had been violating their rights by registering external participants while the US turned a blind eye. Kurds in the city, meanwhile, announce that they were preparing for the elections with the last minute registrations and express that the city belon.
