Events
Ambassador Observes Iraqi Vote In Copenhagen
Bella Center, Amager
December 14, 2005
Ambassador James P. Cain had a chance to meet with local Iraqi election officials and Iraqi expatriate voters as they cast their ballots in Copenhagen on December 14. The mood at the Bella Center polling place was buoyant as Iraqis resident in Denmark and southern Sweden left voting booths with the purple fingers that have come to symbolize Iraq's return to democracy.
"I witnessed the joyful enthusiasm of people who, for the first time in their lives, were exercising the privilege of voting," the Ambassador said. "I watched a family of four arrive together holding hands in a mood of near reverence. I watched women, in beautiful traditional dress, glowing in the hard-earned respect they had achieved in their native country."
One encounter with an Iraqi voter was especially powerful. "As I walked through the crowd of poll workers who were milling around, one grabbed my hand to shake it, bowed slightly, and said 'thank you to you and to your country,'" Ambassador Cain recalled.
"It was a special moment, and a moving reminder of the importance of the freedom that we are fighting for around the world," he said.
Officials say they are experiencing a heavy voter turnout from all over Denmark and southern Sweden. They expect more than 15,000 ballots to be cast during the three days the polls are open. One of the Copenhagen election officials, Professor Jamal Al-Shamary, is a Baghdad Fulbright alumnus who studied psychology at University of Wisconsin Madison. He now teaches at the University of Copenhagen.
Click here to read Ambassador Cain's op-ed "Building Hope for a United, Peaceful and Stable Iraq."