Voting goes smoothly as GIs observe

[unhappycamper]

Two Iraqi women and a child wait to be admitted to a polling station in Kut. The women were turned away because their names weren't on the voting lists, a problem other voters had at this site throughout the day. An election worker said some people may have been improperly registered, but few other problems were reported in Wasit province during the election.


Voting goes smoothly as GIs observe
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, February 1, 2009

In Wasit province, south of Baghdad, Saturday’s voting ran smoothly, with only scattered reports of problems at polling stations. Turnout was generally light but steady, with no lines of people waiting to get inside.

Army Col. Richard Francey, commander of Forward Operating Base Delta, walked through downtown Kut on Saturday morning before visiting about a half-dozen polling sites with Wasit’s police chief and Iraqi army commander. Because U.S. troops were not allowed inside, they stayed outside the entrance to the polling stations — several in neighborhoods that were the center of an uprising against coalition forces last spring — and greeted residents.

"I was surprised it was running as smoothly as it was," Francey said.

At one polling station, a worker said many people had been turned away because their names weren’t on the voting lists, possibly because of an error in voter registration. Francey and the Iraqi officials also had a report during the day that supporters of one candidate were intimidating voters at a polling station. Iraqi forces were sent to investigate.

Two bombs were found near polling stations in Numaniyah on Friday and one in Suwera on Saturday, Francey and the Iraqi officials said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60389