There are approximately 600,000 Iraqis in Unites States, with the largest group being Assyrians (400,000). The Assyrian population of Iraq has declined from 1.4 million in 2003 to approximately 500,000 today because of a low-grade genocide against the Assyrians by various Muslim factions in Iraq (report).
The Iraqi voting center in Chicago, at the Assyrian National Council of Illinois building in Skokie, was overflowing with Iraqis, but dozens were not even allowed to enter the building because election officials claimed they did not have valid identification papers.
Mr. Zaya Spandiary attempted to vote but was disqualified. "The election process seems to be going smoothly," he said, "but I think there is some foul play because we had been told that any Iraqi ID would be accepted, so I brought my expired Iraqi passport Series B and my Army Service record but was not even allowed to go inside the center. I spoke to at least 15 people that were not allowed to go in to vote and I expect a lot more people will be turned down."
Mr. Sam Gorial, who was a monitor on behalf of Iraqi List 298 (the Sons of Two Rivers party, Bne Nahrain) said he saw many people who were not allowed to vote because of "improper identification papers."
Approximately 2400 Iraqis voted in Chicago.
In Detroit there were many who felt they were not given an opportunity to vote, according to Martin Manna, staff president of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce. "My father was unable to vote because his Iraqi passport was expired. He has not been to Iraq in forty years. How is he expected to travel back to the country to update his records?"
According to Mr. Ismat Karmo, the Chairman of the Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Coalition of America (CASCA), publicly the Iraqi government was promoting out of country voting as a way to be inclusive of all of its current and past citizens, but in reality many were unable to exercise that right. "This is merely another example of Iraq's government marginalizing its Christian and other minority communities. We will be discussing the issue directly with Iraq's Ambassador to the United States this Friday when he visits us in Detroit."
In San Diego open discrimination against Assyrians and Arabs (both Sunni and Shia) was reported. According to Johnny Sargon Jacob, who was working as a monitor on behalf of Iraqi List 300 (Al-Rafedain), over 60% of Assyrians and Arabs were blocked from voting, while every Kurd was allowed to vote. The Assyrian manager of the election center, Shevan Toma, actively assisted Kurds and openly discriminated against Assyrians and Arabs, said Mr. Jacob. "Mr. Shivan Toma noticeably discriminated against Assyrians and Arabs. This was witnessed by Shia and Sunni monitors as well. Many complaints have been filed against Mr. Toma."
"I voted," said Mr. Jacob, "but my son Ashouraia Jacob was not allowed to vote because my Iraqi documents had my last name Jacob in Arabic, but his US documents had his last name as Jacob in English. It is the same name, one in Arabic and the other in English. The election officials said the names 'did not match.'"
Mr. Edward Anton, who resides in Phoenix, said "My parents were greatly disappointed to be sent away from the election site in San Diego after they presented their American passport and a copy of their Iraqi citizenship paper (jinsiyya). Also, my mother-in-law was not allowed to vote in Phoenix."
AINA spoke by telephone with the director of the Iraqi voting center in Phoenix, Mr. Steven Ishak, himself an Assyrian. Mr. Ishak said that approximately 1400 Iraqis voted and 300-400 Iraqis were not allowed to vote because of improper identification papers. According to Mr. Ishak, any one original copy of four identification documents was acceptable:
- Current Iraqi passport
- Iraqi certificate of citizenship
- Iraqi National I.D.
- 1957 Iraqi registration certificate
Many Iraqis had photocopies of these documents or expired passports, which were not accepted.
Ms. Galeta Nano, who heads the Sons of Two Rivers party in Arbel, Iraq stated that she sent a letter to IHEC protesting the voting rules which stipulate that each person must give proof of residents to a province and can only cast votes for candidates hailing from that province. She explained that it is different for the Christian community, because minority votes all fall into one bucket irrespective of province. On Monday afternoon IHEC officials sent her a letter stating Christians in and out of Iraq are allowed to present proof of affiliation to a Christian component and will be allowed to vote without the need to prove provincial residence. Ms. Galeta Nano posted the letter and IHEC circulated the letter by email and web. The relevant point (#4) from the letter states:
With regard to paragraph 2 relating to documents, it is possible to make an exception to the rule of providing proof of residence in a province for the Christian constituency, because their election is based on a single group. To prove that a voter is a member of a Christian constituency he should present identification papers showing affiliation to a Christian constituency.
Iraqis who were not allowed to vote expressed their frustration and anger. Some blamed the IHEC for failing to anticipate the needs of expatriates, particularly Assyrians. Some Assyrians blamed the IHEC for not having an Assyrian/Christian commissioner. Other Assyrians blamed the Assyrian political parties in Iraq for failing to insure elections laws would be fair for the Assyrian/Christian communities in and out of Iraq.
According to Mr. Edward Anton, "My father was an activist against Saddam's regime for years. He was denied his democratic right to vote -- the very thing he advocated for. He is a very disappointed 82 year-old man that had high hopes for his homeland. This is a crime against expatriates living abroad that were chased out of their homeland during the Saddam's era and were part of the opposition outside Iraq."
On Tuesday, April 29, the president of the Iraqi Board of Commissioners of the Electoral Commission, Serbst Mustafa Rashid, issued preliminary figures on the number of expatriate votes. He said that 165,532 expatriate Iraqis had voted in twenty countries.
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