Baghdad: Many Iraqis voting in yesterday's parliamentary election said they hoped to pick "clean" candidates untainted by corruption, with some casting protest votes against the present Shiite- and Kurdish-led government.
"I voted for 618 because they seem like clean people. We know them as good people," said Eman Al Sameraie, showing her finger covered in purple ink after voting for a Sunni Arab list.
Like others, the 46-year-old housewife seemed motivated more by frustration with the government than by high expectations.
"Now it is time for change because what others did was not encouraging," she said.
Nearby, a young boy on a bicycle circled around the voting station in Baghdad's Yarmuk waving an Iraqi flag, for some a symbol of unity in a country torn by communal strife.
Iraqi politicians are all making the same promises: better security, improved services, economic revival and more jobs. Voters said these issues were of importance. But what many voters say they are looking for is honest leaders.
"We are sick of corrupt people," said first-time voter Mohammad Taha, 45. "We need an Interior Ministry that protects us, not one that kills us," the Sunni Arab added.
Another first-time voter, college student Zeinab Bayati said she had decided to cast a ballot this time as a protest. "I didn't vote last year because I wasn't convinced. I'm still not convinced but I'm fed up with this government so I decided to vote against them," the Shiite woman said.
"We have nothing. Where is the security they promised? What did they do on the social side? People are really suffering."
