Iraqis Hold Free Elections

Despite continued concerns about security in the region and the ongoing presence of American troops, Tufts experts are cautiously optimistic about the first free Iraqi elections in 50 years.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [02.02.05] On Jan. 30, Iraqis braved the threat of violence to turn out at polling stations in larger than expected numbers, casting votes in their country’s first free election in 50 years. Despite promises by insurgents to continue violence and low participation among the country’s Sunni Muslims, voter turnout was projected to be about 60 percent. According to Tufts’ international relations professor Malik Mufti, many Iraqis viewed the historic elections as a “test of American intentions in Iraq.”

“The prevalent view is still very skeptical, that this is something arranged by the Americans,” Mufti explained in a Boston Herald article. “But there are a few voices . . . that say ‘look, there is a chance here.’”

The positive outlook fostered by participation in the election could spread beyond the borders of Iraq.

“If it does work out, it will have a revolutionary effect not just on Iraq but on the whole region,” he said.

A successful democracy in Iraq may help silence critics of the American invasion of Iraq, Mufti told the Herald.

“People who opposed it will have to deal with the fact that American military intervention did bring about a positive change.”

All in all, Mufti called the election “a pretty serious setback for the insurgents.”

Adil Najam, professor of international diplomacy at the Fletcher School, still foresees an increase in violence as likely in the near future, but he admitted that Iraqis “voted far more actively than people had anticipated.”

Still, Najam warns, the election is a single marker on a complex path toward democratic sovereignty for a nation ruled by a tyrant up until 22 months ago.

“This is just one step in a really long process,” Najam told the Herald.