QARA ANJIR, Iraq — Oppressed and culturally marginalized for centuries, the Kurds of northern Iraq were euphoric Sunday as they sensed an election outcome likely to enhance their political power and deliver to them the fabled and contested oil city of Kirkuk.
Women in sequined dresses and men in suits and traditional baggy pants streamed through city streets and navigated snowy mountains in an atmosphere resembling a sprawling block party. Security was tight across the country, but the Kurdish north, alive with dancing, honking horns and fluttering banners, was more at ease than other regions.
"God has shined himself upon us," said Saima Said Haider, an embroidered veil bordering her face as she waited to vote amid hills scattered with shepherds and Iraqi army snipers. "It is like a feast. We are voting for peace and prosperity and to remember the blood of our martyrs killed by Saddam Hussein. I hope through my vote I'm securing the happiness of my children."
The Kurds were seeking two victories in the election. The first was to collect enough seats in the 275-member Iraqi national assembly to grant the north wider autonomy and a stronger influence in the drafting of a federal constitution. The second was to achieve a political majority in Kirkuk, which accounts for 40% of Iraq's oil supply and is seen by Kurds as their cultural and historical right.
Voter turnout around the northern provincial capitals of Irbil and Sulaymaniya was more than 70%, according to the independent Kurdish Institute for Elections. Kurds, most of whom are Sunni Muslim, make up about 18% of Iraq's population. They could emerge as a key bloc in the assembly if they capture a projected 65 to 70 seats and ally themselves with the Shiite Muslim majority.
"This means the Kurds get a loud voice in the new Iraq," Kurdish police officer Abdullah Sabir Othman said.
The Kurds entered the election with more experience in democracy than Iraq's Arabs. Dominated by Arab regimes for decades, Iraqi Kurds won a degree of autonomy in 1991 when the U.S. declared a "no-fly" zone to protect the north from Baghdad's armies. This recent history has emboldened Kurds to increase their stake in the new Iraq by demanding to hold the presidency and run key ministries.
