The polls closed in all centers 90 minutes ago!
The IECI had a press conference half an hour ago that pretty much summarized today’s events. From watching this press conference and analyzing the reports we received today we can say that the following points represents the most important findings:
-Security was much better than last time in January and there were only a few minor incidents.
-It was clear that the IECI and its multi-thousand strong staff did a wonderful and exceptional job in such a hard time to make the election go in the best way possible.
-The Iraqi Army and police were successful in giving our people the opportunity to vote in a peaceful environment.
-The total registered voter-count was 1,000,000 higher than in January after adding Iraqi citizens who were born in 1987.
-15, 5 million+ Iraqis cast their votes in more than 30,000 station spread nationwide.
-All the assassinations and intimidation that preceded the election could not stop the process.
-There have been strict measures to make sure that all ballot boxes and station are in compliance with the standards of the IECI and now it’s their-IECI-duty to make sure that no boxes were replaced or manipulated.
-The presence of the press and representatives of political bodies and civil society organizations was profound although there were limitations on the presence of media workers. But however, the process was being watched 600,000 eyes!
-The IECI distributed 5,000,000 posters nationwide to educate the population on the process and encourage Iraqis to vote.
-2 million brochures were distributed to inform the people on the technical and moral aspects of the election.
-Countless numbers of conferences, lectures and workshops were held to educate the people and encourage them to vote.
-Almost all the defects that took place in some regions today were basically cases in which voters couldn’t find their names in the voter-lists.
-Counting the votes has begun in all stations and the results will be collected and conveyed to the provincial offices to be later conveyed to the IECI HQ in Baghdad.
Full report at the link, with bulletins from correspondents throughout Iraq. Pajamas Media has more; read about Iraq's oldest voter, and about the conscientious official in Babil, where NOBODY votes without showing the proper ID!
