Iraqi Christians Encouraged to Vote in National Election

Despite terrorist attacks that have threatened Iraqis to vote in the coming National Election on 30th January, Louis Sako Chaldean Bishop of Kirkuk encouraged Christians to participate in the voting as a national and religious duty, according to AsiaNews.

During a phone interview with AsiaNews, the Bishop of Kirkuk condemned the recent targeted violence carried out by the terrorists. Last week, the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Basile Georges Casmoussa was kidnapped and released after 24 hours. Two days ago, a car bomb exploded at a wedding where 20 Iraqis innocent died.

Bishop of Kirkuk said, "At Mass, in the homily, we tell people to go and vote." He considered that next Sunday's elections are "something immense and new", since for the first time Iraqi will "freely choose their leaders".

In a joint statement that the representatives of the various Churches in Kirkuk undersigned together, it spelled the reason behind the voting, "Voting is a national and religious duty that contributes to the birth of a new Iraq, for everyone: an Iraq which is able to develop in vitality."

Bishop of Kirkuk is very optimistic to the essential part that Christians have to play in the election. He said, "We told people to go and vote because, even if the situation is not perfect, the elections are an important step toward democracy and freedom. The elections are the right path for a society capable of progress. There are Christian parties running for both provincial elections and the National Assembly. Christian politicians are also part of other parties, for example Kurdish ones."

Apart from the local Iraqi Christians' vote, the efforts of the Iraqis living overseas are also a concern. The other 11 countries outside Iraq where voting will take place are Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which is the body handling the overseas vote of behalf of Iraq's independent electoral commission, has reported that fewer than one in four Iraqis living in the United Kingdom had signed up to vote as of late Tuesday. In addition, 255,611 expatriate Iraqis had registered to vote so far out of an estimated 1.4 million worldwide.

However, IOM said it has not been disappointed by the number itself. Some of those expatriates in Britain who did register said they were thrilled to finally have the opportunity of voting for their own government. Many have even expressed their plans to move back to Iraq if the situation improves in the future.