VIENNA, Austria - Iraqi citizens living in Austria headed to the polls on April 27-28 to cast their ballots, ahead of this month’s parliamentary elections.
On the first day around 850 Iraqi citizens, among them many Kurds, turned up at the polling station that was open from 9am-7pm.
Aram Saleh Osman, Head of the local Electoral Commission came to Vienna from Erbil at the beginning of March to prepare and oversee the voting process.
“There are around 10,000 Iraqi citizens living in Austria and of them 3000 to 3,500 have the right to vote,” said Osman on the second day of the voting.
Eligible voters had to show an Iraqi identity card, proof of Iraqi citizenship or a valid Iraqi passport along with valid an Austrian document, for example a driving license or a residence permit.
“Iraqi citizens abroad can vote from 20 countries around the world. There are polling centres for example in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Iran, Turkey, Sweden and Germany,” Osman told Rudaw.
This month’s elections in Iraq are the first since the withdrawal of US troops in 2011.
Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission has approved 276 political bodies in this year’s elections in which 9,000 candidates are competing for 328 seats in the parliament, which subsequently elects the next president and prime minister.
“When the polling stations close in Vienna the paper votes get registered electronically and we send them to Baghdad where they approve the votes, check if they are valid,” said Osman on the procedure. “Then they send them back to us and we count them. We hope to have a result by the beginning of May.”
Alshalal Uhud, a native of Basra who came to Vienna 13 years ago hoped that the new parliament would bring some changes to the country.
“I haven’t been back in Iraq for a long time but I am happy I can vote from here today and I of course want my country to develop and become a better place,” she said.
Eyad Jassami, another Iraqi voter said he feels a change in voter opinion and that “there will be many surprises in the next few days.
"The people are coming, new deputies of parliament who deserve to win,” Jassami told Rudaw. “I hope for a change. I want participation for all of those who deserve to serve Iraq, verified people, people who live in Iraq and understand the problems of Iraq and serve Iraq honestly on other grounds than before.”
The last elections in 2010 were tainted by allegations of fraud that led to a recount. However, Osman says this won’t be the case in this year’s election.
“This year we have more experienced people on board working with the elections and they are making sure every step is done correctly, so no mistakes can be made like last time,” he said.
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