Obama hails Iraq’s embrace of ‘right to vote’

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

US President Barack Obama says the United States will continue to stand with Iraqi people as 'partners in their pursuit of a peaceful, unified and prosperous future'

RIGHT TO VOTE. President Barack Obama says the Iraq elections would serve to 'unite the country.' File photo by AFP

WASHINGTON DC, USA – President Barack Obama on Thursday, May 1, praised Iraq’s parliamentary elections, saying the vote demonstrated the country’s enthusiastic embrace of democracy despite “enormous challenges.”

“Millions of Iraqis embraced their democratic right to vote,” the president said in a statement following Wednesday’s vote.

“The people of Iraq know better than anyone else the enormous challenges that they face, and yesterday’s turnout demonstrated to the world that they seek to pursue a more stable and peaceful future through the political process.”

Obama said the election would serve to “unite the country through the formation of a new government that is supported by all Iraqi communities and that is prepared to advance tangible and implementable programs.”

The US president pledged “the United States will continue to stand with the Iraqi people as partners in their pursuit of a peaceful, unified and prosperous future.”

Preliminary results from the elections are not expected for another two weeks at the earliest.

Initial election commission figures said nearly 60% of Iraq’s 20 million eligible voters cast ballots. Turnout in the last election, in 2010, was 62%. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!