Iraqi Constitution Vote: Say What?
Today the Iraqi people will vote on whether the (very flawed) (especially if you happen to be a woman) constitution will shape their nation. Or will they? I did a double take when I read this paragraph in the NY Times article about the election:
Pardon? 2.5 million (that's 2,500,000) people live in Sadr City and only 2,400 people are even registered to vote?! Excuse me if I don't think that a 73% turnout from such a paltry number constitutes of ringing endorsement of democracy or the new constitution!
Oh, this isn't encouraging at all. I had hoped a constitution might mean some sort of legitimacy for the new government and mean the beginning of an American exit strategy. But if Sadr City is representative of Iraq......abandon all hope, ye who read the news.
(And if you don't read the news, please bang your head against the wall.) (But not too hard, I don't want you to get hurt. That would be stupid.)
There were pockets where turnout appeared quite heavy. At one precinct in Sadr City, the giant slum where as many as half of Baghdad's five million people live, 1,750 of the 2,400 registered voters had cast ballots by late afternoon, a turnout of 73 percent
Pardon? 2.5 million (that's 2,500,000) people live in Sadr City and only 2,400 people are even registered to vote?! Excuse me if I don't think that a 73% turnout from such a paltry number constitutes of ringing endorsement of democracy or the new constitution!
Oh, this isn't encouraging at all. I had hoped a constitution might mean some sort of legitimacy for the new government and mean the beginning of an American exit strategy. But if Sadr City is representative of Iraq......abandon all hope, ye who read the news.
(And if you don't read the news, please bang your head against the wall.) (But not too hard, I don't want you to get hurt. That would be stupid.)
posted by Ben at
2:12 PM
2 Comments:
That's only at one precinct. Some 500,000 people are registered to vote in Wake County, and there are only 1500 in my precinct. I'd wager that there's a bunch more precincts in a neighborhood the size of Sadr City.
But yeah, Iraqi women, head for the hills.
By
Jeff, at 10/17/2005 1:04 PM
Oooooh! I didn't catch that.
Ok, a little more encouraging. Of course, there's still the possibility that Sunnis will feel screwed by this, but maybe it's not as bad as I thought
By
Ben, at 10/17/2005 5:11 PM
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