Despite Violence, Strong Turnout For Iraqi Election
Iraqis went to the polls Sunday in parliamentary elections — and NPR's Baghdad bureau chief, Quil Lawrence, tells host Guy Raz that despite a barrage of early morning bombings around the city, turnout was strong. Results haven't been finalized yet, but officials estimated that 65 to 70 percent of Iraqis voted.
GUY RAZ, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
The polls are now closed in Iraq where election officials say 65 percent of eligible voters turned out, this despite a wave of explosions in Baghdad and in other cities this morning.
President BARACK OBAMA: We know that there will be very difficult days ahead in Iraq. There will probably be more violence. But like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq must be free to chart its own course.
RAZ: President Obama, speaking at the White House this afternoon.
We begin the hour with a look at the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan where, between them, nearly 200,000 American troops are now operating. First to Iraq where, in Baghdad, people like 63-year-old Abbas Hassan Farras(ph) showed up to vote, determined not to be intimidated.
Mr. ABBAS HASSAN FARRAS: I don't afraid. Why afraid? This is my country. I live here. I should be not afraid from anything. I don't afraid from terrorists.
RAZ: For the latest on that election, we're joined by NPR's Baghdad bureau chief Quil Lawrence. And Quil, there's been some conflicting information coming out about those blasts this morning. What do you know?
QUIL LAWRENCE: Well, I can tell you what I heard this morning. From about 7 o'clock, we started to hear bangs and booms all around the city. We went up on the roof, and at one point, I think we counted about 20 of them in 30 minutes, which was quite intimidating to us.
We assumed that these were mortars. They sounded like mortars or rockets or possibly roadside bombs. What the conflict was is when we went out there, we found a very small number of casualties. And our normal sources were confirming that they were only perhaps 30 to 40 casualties, which is a low number considering the number of explosions we heard.
And then we heard from U.S. military sources that they tracked not a single mortar or rocket today. They say that these bombs were very small, very low power, and they were just designed to intimidate people. They were placed in small plastic soda bottles all around the city with timers, and they were just there to scare people away from the polls.
RAZ: And Quil, have those attacks kept people away from the polling stations?
LAWRENCE: In the early morning, it seemed like the turnout was very slow, but then it picked up, and the numbers we're hearing are 65, maybe 70 percent, so a very good turnout.
But, no, Iraqis came out, and some of them told me that they were coming out because of the terrorists. They said these guys can go to hell. We're not staying home because of some bombs. We're not afraid.
RAZ: Now what do we know so far about results or potential results?
LAWRENCE: We generally can guess from different reports coming from different political party observers that Prime Minister Maliki did well. Probably, his closest rivals would be Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister, and possibly the United Shiite list. But we don't really know solid numbers yet, and we're still probably suspecting that no one got enough to form a government on his own, and so there will have to be some coalition building, and we know that's going to take months.
RAZ: And so that's the next step in the process. If Prime Minister Maliki's party wins the most number of seats, presumably he'll still have to form a coalition with other parties. And based on previous election results, that, as you say, could take months.
LAWRENCE: The last time they had an election, the vote was in December, and the government finally formed in May. And this time, it might be even heavier loaded with issues. People will want to bargain, trade assurances on things like the city of Kirkuk in the north or the importance of Islam in the constitution in order to give their seats over to whoever is going to form the government. Yes, we're expecting it will take a long, long time.
RAZ: Quil, what are you hearing from the U.S. military about what kind of effect this election will have on the U.S. military presence in Iraq?
LAWRENCE: They had been saying all along that they've been flexible, but they're planning to get it down to about 50,000 troops by August. And I think the way it went today and the expressions of confidence they've been giving us in the Iraqi military, they seem to be setting it up to stay on target. They're going to start moving thousands of troops out per week.
They've still got just around 90,000 troops in the country, between 90,000 and 100,000. That means they have to move out 50,000 troops in very short order, but all indications are that they plan to do that. We'll see if there's any post-election violence in and among the bargaining.
RAZ: That's NPR's Quil Lawrence in Baghdad. Quil, thanks so much.
LAWRENCE: Thank you, Guy.
Copyright © 2010 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.