Bestun Sarwi, a observer of the Islamic Union of Kurdistan (KIU) in Manchester told Awena that Kurds started demonstrations, because the electoral commission refused to let Kurds votes.
"The commission says that voters should have 'Iraq' in their country of birth on their passports and birth place, this is impossible," says Sarwi. According to Sarwi this decision favours Arabic voters. "Kurds lose their vote in this way."
They also ask two documents to prove a person is Iraqi, but not everybody has these two documents.
On 16.00 the electoral office in London was closed and Kurds were standing outside of the voting office. Many Kurds were rejected and couldn't vote.
Kurdish freelancer Raz Jabary was outraged to find that many Kurds from especially Kirkuk were not allowed to vote due to the lack of two Iraqi forms of proof of identity. "My dad went into a heated argument and claimed it was simply ridiculous for everyone to still have two official documents after nearly 20 or so years after exile; he argued with the polling center's director and other workers, who then decided to contact Baghdad. After 30-40 minutes they got back reply saying decision was retreated and anyone with two forms of identity not necessarily Iraqi was allowed to vote."
A KNN advisor confirmed that especially Kurds from Kirkuk were prevented from voting. "I heard it too, that the London electoral station was controlled by Arabs, and they seized the opportunity of the European identity documents to prevent the Kurds to vote. I heard of clashes in Sweden too."
In 16 countries Iraqi immigrants can caste their votes.
© Rudaw
