[wakeyboy]

Some good news from Iraq (is that the first time thats ever been said?)...

Local authority elections in Iraq have taken place without too much incident (thats by Iraqi standards though) mortar rounds landed near a polling station in Tikrit (Saddam's home town) but no one was injured, a shooting incident in Baghdad which may have resulted in a fatality but is not confirmed, some voters were not on the electoral roll and were unable to vote and the semi-autnomous Kurdish region has not been allowed to vote.

Apart from those problems, the turnout has been strong (2% turnout in 2005, predicted turnout of 60% this time) and the Sunnis are also turning out to vote, as well as running for office. They boycotted the last election in 2005. There's been a high turnout for women too. 14,000 candidates are running for just 440 seats!

There's also indications that many voters are turning away from the large relgious parties and turning instead toward nationalist and secular parties.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 862177.stm

[LollyB]

Just saw a TV interview with a few of those female candidates, who said that the war had forced women back into the role of "anonymous black robed figures", also said that (ironically) women were now more aware of what they were voting for. They will have a few problems with credibility for the results of this election, whatever the outcome, but let's hope the losing party doesn't start a bloodbath.