Iraqis vote

This article was published in The New York Times 8 March 2010

Final results from Iraq’s parliamentary election may not be available for days, but this much we can already say for sure: Iraq’s citizens once again showed tremendous courage and determination, defying bombs and a flawed pre-election process to cast their ballots.

We hope that Iraq’s political leaders will show at least as much courage in coming weeks as they negotiate the makeup of a new government. With American combat troops due to withdraw by the end of August, there is not a lot of time and still far too many unresolved issues for the new government to address.

The percentage of Iraqis who voted was down from the last parliamentary election in 2005 (62 percent versus 76 percent), the result, in part, of more restrictive voter ID requirements.