In three weeks Iraq should hold it’s much awaited democratic elections. Across the world, the web is being enlisted to let expatriat communities in 14 different countries know they can have their say too. The ‘Out-of-Country Voting Program’ has been organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) using the web, radio, TV, posters and leaflets to ‘get the vote out’.
It is estimated that there are around 250,000 Iraqi’s living in the UK, 150,000 of which are of voting age, although there will be no exact data until voting registration is complete. Voting registration is taking place in London, Manchester and Glasgow from Monday 17 January to Sunday 23 January 2005. The vote itself will take place between Friday 28 January and Sunday 30 January between 08:00 and 17:00 GMT. More details can be found on the OCV website.
Iraqi citizens will also be able to vote in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the UAE, Britain and the US.
Peter Erben, IOM Iraq OCV Director said: “This is an historic Out-of-Country Election and we are looking forward to a high registration and voter turnout.”
Fingers crossed, that they have more success with over-seas voting than in the recent US elections.