Passed along, from a Kurd in Iraq:

The Election Day just ended. The first real multiparty election in the history of Iraq just closed. I had to vote in Duhok where I am registered for the food ration since nearly 13 years ago. In Duhok (vast majority Kurds) the process was very smooth with a huge participation, very safe and secure environment and well organized.
According to initial readings from voters and officials in all Kurdistan (by the current definition the three provinces of Duhok, Erbil and Sulimaneya) the participation in the minimum was more than 85%. The three provinces while having the highest percentage of voting had no incidents at all (Thanks God).
In the controversial province of Kirkuk the Iraqi police and security were able to control the situation to a great extent. Nevertheless a blind bomb was able to kill one civilian. People I talked to from Kirkuk stated that the family of the innocent citizen insisted to vote before burying the body. The killed man was a middle age Kurdish man.
In Mosul, nearly two millions and divided by Tigress into two halves, one majority Kurd and the other majority Sunni Arabs the situation was very diverse. The Kurdish side did welcome the election and participate wherever possible while the other part of the city was completly election free!
In Baghdad the contribution has been much beyond the expectations. Today I talked to two families living in two different places in Baghdad. I was surprised to hear how motivated people in Baghdad were! This is the first time since the fall of Saddam that I could feel the stand of the silent majority. I never believed that innocent people can challenge the terrorists. In one center in Baghdad a suicide bombers exploded himself at around 7:30 am while people were just arriving to vote. The incident resulted in the killing of few innocents. The person I talked to who lives in that neighborhood stated that the attendance to the attacked center later in the day was unbelievable! The second family I talked to, also in Baghdad, had a similar story.
Another pro was the freedom in decision making. The voting centers were amazingly free from any political party influence! Oh my God, for people in my age group and older this is unbelievable. We remember the Saddam’s elections with the outcomes of 99.99.99%…and how fearful was it when you would arrive in the voting center. Although there would be no more than one candidate (Saddam Hussein) and all what you had to do was to say yes or no but the attendance used to be really 99.99% simply because you and your family would be in a real danger if you would not go. The joke among Iraqis after each election was that the new government’s number one’s task or agenda was to find the .001% of the population who said no for Saddam and kill them!!
The new experience of free voting today for Iraqis was huge, just huge.
The cons to this election were the complexity of the voting forms. Every one had to make three choices in Kurdistan and two in the center and south by selecting numbers one in each form. One would be who do you chose for the Iraqi National Assembly (who could be a person or a list, but in both cases will have a name and a number, for example 273), the other for Iraqi Kurdistan’s National Assembly (for the Kurds living in Kurdistan) and the third for the province’s councils (18 around the country). Thus every one would be required to remember three or two numbers among tens of numbers. Of course one could read the names too but finally the shortcuts will be numbers and this was a bit difficult for unused Iraqis!
Overall at the end of the voting day, like majority of Iraqis I am very happy but wish to know when tis ink will be cleared from my thumb!. Around the country there have been around 10 terrorist (some of them suicide) acts. I just feel that for the first time since the fall of Saddam there is a good chance for the new Iraqi government and those who support a free Iraq. On the other hand today’s elections were a blow on the face of many countries in the region who do not agree with any progress toward stability and happiness and democracy for Iraqis (even if American way!!).
According to the independent high Iraqi commission for elections report earlier today around 70% of Iraqi voters did participate. Regardless to who will win and who will make coalitions with whom the most important thing in my view is the courage and voice of silent Iraqi majority. Iraqis were continously asked where are the majority? It is about how to express politics and interest!! Not that all the problems are solved but a chance for learning from mistakes and a big step forward.