Expatriates Vote Assyrian Christian Candidate to Iraqi Assembly

The National Two Rivers slate that represents the Chaldo-Assyrians, a small Christian minority in Iraq have won a seat in the new Iraqi National Assembly due to the high number of votes of Iraqi expatriates in the US.

Led by Yonadam Kanna, the slate received 18,538 votes from expatriates from places such as Detroit and San Jose, California in the 30th January election. Kanna's slate would have been about 12,000 votes short of the number required to secure a seat in the assembly without their support, reports revealed.

Kanna said that in fact the slate was expecting to win 10 or 12 seats, however, there were too many voting irregularities everywhere. Many complaints were received from expatriates saying that the polling stations were too far from their homes, some even had to travel a day to cast their ballots.

A similar case was seen among local Christians in the Ninevah province where the Chaldo-Assyrian community is strongest, some polling stations were never even opened, and in other cases the ballot boxes were not delivered.

Despite the backlash behind the election, for Assyrian Christians who have been marginalised for such a long period, this one seat represents that the democratic process has begun and has brought great joy to them.

Recalling the tragic history of Iraqi Christians under Saddam’s rule, Kanna recounted stories of family members killed, Christian churches and monasteries burned and villages destroyed during Saddam's "faith campaign" in the 1990s.

After the victory, Kanna wishes to protect the Chaldo-Assyrian Christian community by working with the new opposition led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to block a constitution based on Islamic law.

Currently, a slate backed by conservative Shiite Muslim clerics took the most seats, about 140, in the new National Iraqi Assembly. However, it is not big enough in the 275-seat assembly to form a religious-based government.

According to a leader of the Chaldean Christian community in the United States, Iraqi Christians are both excited and nervous following the release of the results.

"We are extending our hands to our brother Shiites, and Sunnis in Iraq, to work together to have a...better, democratic Iraq," said Joseph Kassab, president of the US branch of the Chaldean National Congress.