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Michael talks to Kiran Chetry about the weekend elections in Iraq and what they might signal for the future.
KIRAN
CHETRY: Well, Iraqi authorities say that half of the
country's voters turned out for last week's election.
Seven and a half million people. It's a stark
contrast to the 2005 elections when violence and
intimidation meant only two percent voted.
Preliminary results are expected later this week.
For more, we turn to CNN Baghdad correspondent
Michael Ware. We're talking about these elections
taking place and also what we've seen as a pretty big
reduction in violence.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely now,
but there's a lot of reasons for this. And first and
foremost what we have to consider is that yes, you
have this electoral process that is under way. And
remember, this is for the provinces, this is state by
state. This is voting for the Arnold Schwarzeneggers
of Iraq.
What's happening is all the key political parties in
Iraq are playing the political game, but don't forget
every one of these parties -- because you're not in
politics without this -- has their own paramilitary
force or army behind them. So these parties are
waiting to see what they're going to get out of the
process. And if one of the big parties doesn't get
what it thinks it's due, that's when we can see a
return to violence.
So for the rest of the year when we have an election
at the end of the year, for the president and the
prime minister and the national government, we're
going to see a lot of politicking going on and I
think we'll see less violence but that's a bubble of
nonviolence that President Obama is going to have to
maximize. Particularly while he's waging war in
Afghanistan.
CHETRY: So what are the biggest challenges moving
ahead then for Iraq?
WARE: For Iraq, it's going to be getting these
political factions to accept the voice of the people.
For what it is. Now, 51 percent of the vote turned
out, that's less than many had hoped for, but hey,
that's still 51 percent. There also seems to be from
exit polls -- for what they are in Iraq; I mean, come
on, we're talking about Iraq here -- it seems to
indicate that people were moving away from
sectarianism, they're not voting so much for
religious parties. We're seeing the Prime Minister
trying to shore up his position. Some people accuse
him of trying to be a mini-Saddam. Right now, it's in
America's interest to back that mini-Saddam.
CHETRY: All right. Michael Ware for us. You've seen
it all first hand and you'll be watching of course
with interest. Thanks so much for joining us this
morning.
WARE: Thanks, Kiran.