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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2005-01-26

U.N.: Mission Accomplished

I wonder if the alternative way to read this would be: Our work here is done; now let's get the hell out of here!

According to today's NYTimes, the U.N. director of electoral assistance said yesterday "We have done everything in supporting this election we could from a technical point of view, but nothing replaces the will of the people," said Carina Perelli.

I suppose that, in itself, is somewhat remarkable, to think that a U.N. bureaucrat would go out and say that Iraq is ready for its vote on Sunday. Even more amazing is this kudo handed out to the Iraqi Election Commission:

She said there would be 5,300 voting centers, all of them staffed by party agents and national poll watchers. "For us, this is extremely important," she said, "because it shows that beyond the interest of the various political entities, Iraqi civil society has responded to this challenge and is participating in rather impressive numbers, considering the risks."

She added, "For me as a professional in elections, it is absolutely amazing how far the electoral commission of Iraq has come, considering that eight months ago it didn't exist." In establishing procedures, she said, the electoral commission had insisted on installing as many cautions as possible. "Where we advised one lock to prevent fraud from occurring, they put in two," she said.

I wonder if this story will get more play in the MSM. I doubt it--it's all good news about Iraqis taking responsibility for their own country, showing a passion for the democratic process, and receiving praise from the U.N. in the process.

I won't hold my breath to see Dan Rather report on this story.

But it does give me some hope for the elections this Sunday, in a week marked by growing uncertainty. I suppose one needs to sit tight and watch as events unfold, but if the country as a whole shows the same zeal as the people who put the vote together, this could turn out pretty good.

By the way, I wonder if we could get a few of the "locks to prevent fraud" put in in places like Washington and Milwaukee.
Posted by: Michael / 1/26/2005 11:57:00 PM

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