ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The leader of the European Union’s election observation mission on Thursday urged Iraqis to vote in this year’s parliamentary elections, saying not participating will make turning Iraq into a democratic country difficult. “All the voters who still have doubts and might not go and take part in the elections will only make it more difficult for Iraq becoming a real democratic country ... I know it is sometimes difficult to understand - I’m a politician myself - for voters “why shouldn’t we go, if I don’t go it doesn’t make a difference” but I can tell you it makes a difference,” mission leader Viola Von Cramon said at a press conference in Baghdad. “I would like to force each and every voter, each and every citizen, to think twice before you stay at home, rather go and make a good choice for this country,” she added. Iraqis will go to the polls on October 10. Voter turnout is expected to be low with concerns of fraud, vote-buying, and voter intimidation. The European Union will have around 80 election observers on the election day, Cramon said, they will be deployed across Iraq but not in all polling stations. “Eighty doesn’t sound a lot but of course we get our information on how the elections are prepared well ahead of the election day, so to say we cannot cover the entire country,” said Cramon, adding that they will present the final report about two months later. The EU announced on Monday that their election observers will arrive in Iraq in mid-September to monitor preparations and voting. “We will not meet all the expectations, this is clear. But we will make a difference, while we will be there, we can only guarantee that hopefully most of the findings will be documented in our report, but we cannot of course not secure the votes and not secure the safety,” said the mission leader. She added that their goal is to start work “weeks ahead of the electoral day to follow this electoral process” and speak to candidates to get a “comprehensive assessment” after the election day. This is the first time the EU has deployed an election observation mission in Iraq, their mandate “is to observe all aspects of the electoral process and to assess the extent to which these elections comply with international and regional commitments for elections as well with Iraqi law,” said Cramon. The EU team is in Iraq at Baghdad’s request to monitor the October 10 parliamentary elections. Twelve European election experts arrived in Baghdad and Erbil on August 28. Twenty other long-term observers arrived this month as well. On the election day, “locally recruited short-term observers, drawn from EU member states, diplomatic community, as well as Norway and Canada” will join the mission, the mission leader explained. The United Nations will also be playing its supervisory role in the upcoming elections. France and Germany have donated millions to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) for its monitoring mission.
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