WTF? Tens of thousands of Iraqis expected to vote from Germany

[kuozzman]

(No link-College Database)
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BERLIN, Jan 13 (AFP) - Up to 65,000 Iraqis could vote in the January 30 general election in their country from Germany, the Berlin branch of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday.

Polling booths will be set up in the cities of Berlin, Cologne, Munich and Mannheim where eligible voters will be able to cast their ballots January 28-30, the IOM said. People will be able to register to vote in the election for a transitional assembly, whose main task will be to draw up a constitution, from January 17 to 23.

The election comes amid daily attacks on US troops occupying Iraq and civilians, and the poll could be undermined by a threat by the large Sunni Muslim minority to boycott. Voting in Germany will take place under heavy security, although no violence is expected.

[democracyindanger]

1. Hundreds of thousands in the US

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-01-12-voa68.cfm

"Officials here say nearly 250,000 Iraqis living in the United States will be eligible to vote in the election, and an unprecedented effort is under way to facilitate the casting of ballots."

[Canadian Socialist]

2. In Canada as well

I know they're setting up a polling station in Calgary, and, I think, Toronto and Vancouver.

[louis-t]

3. Need not be a citizen of Iraq

If a person or their father were born in Iraq, I believe they are eligible to vote. That's like saying my mother, who was born here, could vote for president of Lebanon because her parents were born there. Insane. (Well, not that I mean her parents were insane, but, I mean, er, never mind).

[DulceDecorum]

6. Seeing as how Abraham and Sarah

both came from the city of Ur which is well inside Iraq,
does that mean that any Jewish or Israeli person can vote
in Iraqi elections?

[wolfgirl]

8. NPR ran

this story this evening about the absentee voting. Very odd circumstances, but I (among others) think the election is just an exercise in propaganda anyway. Bush & Co have already decided who is going to win.

[louis-t]

12. agreed

[NV Whino]

4. Absentee ballots...

not to worry, they won't be counted.

[KerryReallyWon]

5. Kerry worked the Americans Abroad program run by

his sister Peggy Kerry and their friends that live around the world and work in foreign service. There are many registered to vote americans who live overseas. We worked them this election and many voted who not in the past. I know one, who had not voted in 30 yrs. If you were overseas wouldn't you want an absentee ballot?

[louis-t]

13. Only legal citizens should be able to vote.

Yes, legal US citizens living outside the US should be allowed. Not someone who has renounced their citizenship, or children of US citizens born and living permanently overseas.

[oneighty]

7. Fighting for their country

from a safe distance. When the dying is done they will go claim that which is rightfully theirs.

Lotta would be war heroes down at the local watering hole just like that.

180

[amazona]

9. why not?

U.S. expats are allowed to vote. As long as they are citizens, why not?

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Career Prole]

10. Many Iraqi expatriates are anti-Saddam, pro-shrub.

Hell, the first "government" shrub had planned for Iraq was going to be made up heavily of expats. Chalabi ring a bell?
They'll be able to vote from over a dozen countries, and the interim government has sent out 2.5 million ballots to those countries.
The way the "don't get out the vote" election security will be in Iraq, the government that writes Iraq's constitution may very well be selected by people who haven't been there in years and are thoroughly Westernized...in other words, a pro-shrub government.
That no doubt was a consideration when the Iraqi interim government had a sudden change of heart in November about absentee voting being too technically difficult.
The chimp plays the tune and they dance, and georgie doesn't intend to let that change, "free" elections or no.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

11. Will there be chads?? Please tell me if there will be chads.... I do so

love the chads.... is Lepore designing the ballots?? Is Diebold making the machines?? Will Germany's supreme court decide the count?? Will activists storm the counting activities... flown there on energy company jets?? Ahhhhh I do so miss the chads.....


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