Baghdad Witnesses Low Voter Turnout

31/01/2005| IslamWeb

Election reports from Baghdad have indicated that turnout was particularly low in the capital and come as Iraq's election commission backtracks on a statement that 72% of registered voters countrywide cast their ballots.

 

Iraqi journalist Ziyad al-Samarrai told Aljazeera on Monday that voter turnout in Baghdad was poor, especially in the al-Yarmuk, al-Amiriya, and al-Adhamiya districts - the main population centres in central and western Baghdad. 

 

The election commission said on Sunday its initial tally of 72% had been little more than a guess based on local estimates.

 

"Turnout figures recently announced represent the enormous and understandable enthusiasm felt in the field on this historic day," a commission statement said.

 

Al-Samarrai reported that political beliefs, rather than security factors, were the reasons behind Iraqis' boycott of the elections.

 

Most citizens interviewed by the journalist said the elections reflected nothing but the will of the United States and was for its own interests.

 

Deteriorating security situation

 

The Iraqi journalist also said the security situation in Iraq was deteriorating. He reported that clashes erupted on Monday morning between fighters and US forces in Baghdad while US helicopters hovered over the city. 

 

US and Iraqi forces are heavily deployed in the city's streets, he added.

 

In a separate incident, a US marine was killed in combat in Iraq's western al-Anbar province, the US military said on Monday.

 

The marine, assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed while troops conducted security operations on Sunday.

 

The statement did not say exactly where he was killed.

 

Australian staff moved

Meanwhile, Australia has abandoned its Baghdad embassy and shifted diplomatic staff to a US military base after a car bomb attack on the embassy compound on 19 January, Canberra said on Monday. 

 

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Camp Victory would be a temporary home while the Australian mission awaited relocation to a permanent embassy inside the heavily fortified Green Zone international sector of Baghdad. 

 

Camp Victory, a major US facility close to Baghdad International Airport and the headquarters of both the US and Australian military, will accommodate ambassador Howard Brown and his two staff members for up to six months, Downer said. 

 

Two Iraqis were killed and two Australian soldiers slightly injured in the 19 January attack in which a car bomb exploded outside the embassy's concrete blast barriers and alongside the Australian soldiers' accommodation.

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

A British soldier looks on as a Hercules C-130 taxis across the runway at Basra Airport. (AFP)