Expatriate voter welcomes election

Breeze Reader’s View

The Iraqi people, excluding probably the Kurds, have not seen democracy for a long time. The election yesterday was a chance for Iraqis in Iraq and abroad to raise their voices and be heard. Five cities in the United States offered the Iraqi expatriates a chance to vote and be part of the new democratic government in Iraq. As a refugee from the Kurdish part of Iraq, I had the privilege Saturday in Washington, D.C., to vote for the first time in my life. Besides all the TV reports, tightened security and some dancing crowds, the process went as smoothly as it could have in any other election station.

As we came closer to the polling site, security increased. More police cars and officers were on the streets directing traffic and arresting drivers for not permitting pedestrians to cross the streets to vote in the Ramada Hotel. Police dogs sniffed under cars. The back lot of the hotel was turned into a security checkpoint for the voters. A white tent was set in the lot and a big, long line of voters were waiting to pass through a metal detector and be hand searched.

The polling places were organized well and people were very helpful. The combination of the different people in the station showed how diverse the Iraqis are. There were a lot of Kurdish people who showed off by wearing their traditional Kurdish cloths, and there were the more quiet Arabs. There were also women dressed in long, black abbeys (like a chador) who spoke in a tongue that I had not heard. The most lively of the groups were the Kurds. A Kurdish Kirkuki man in front of me in line expressed his emotions as he put his ballet in the ballet box. He said loudly in the Kurdish tongue how good he felt and how this election is a chance for him as a Kurd to finally reach his goal of freedom and be able to speak Kurdish and vote for his representative. A lot of Kurds were wearing their flag that depicted a sun in the middle of green and red bands over their shoulders. The Kirkuki man told his wife not to take off the flag that he had fought for. It seemed to me that the expression of pride in being Kurdish hurt the feelings of the less noisy people. It also seemed as though the Kurds were being hurt too when they were told by Arab men to lower their voice or to stand somewhere else. But, over all, everyone was very accommodating.

I came out of the place without hassle and a purple finger. The purple finger was to make sure I didn’t vote again in this election. I had to dip my right index finger in ink that will stay on my skin for at least three days. Every one who came out had one.

In the parking lot where voters had parked, some Kurdish people had started line dancing — the Kirkuki man was leading the dance. The Kurdish satellite channels and other channels were there to capture the scene. In the same lot a group of Americans greeted the voters with balloons and congratulations.

One might think that everyone was as excited to vote as I was, but in America, only a quarter of those expatriates who could vote registered. The long distances that people had to travel to reach a polling site might have been a deterrent. Some friends of mine drove 11 hours both to register and vote. My family drove two hours. We expatriates owe it to those Iraqis who have chosen to stay in the country and suffered so much. They had braved death threats to reach their destination — we only had to brave traffic.

Hopefully, other elections are still to come in the future of Iraq and I would be more than willing to brave traffic and long distances to vote again.

Bareza Rasoul is a junior biology major.