I think ^(link) therefore I err

Friday, January 20, 2006

Iraq Election Results

Are in!

Violence is expected from folks who don't like the results but increased security is in place (enough for Omar to not make it to work). It sounds like these good people are working through it. Iraq is going to be awesome. Iraq the Model gives a great psych 101 rundown, ending with the ever so accurate "democracy is a process, not an event."

Actually one of our biggest problems is the lack of trust between the different parties and more dangerous is the little trust the parties have in democracy.
This trust crisis is what causes those irrational reactions.
The Shia politicians, although they are the biggest winners in the elections are still behaving like victims and they worry about whether this or that Sunni candidate was part of the Ba’ath party. And the same applies to the Sunni who are afraid of Shia domination despite the fact that their (the Sunni) parties will control nearly 30% of the parliament and there’s no chance they can be marginalized again.
Not only that, both sides say they’re being conspired upon by the others. This lack of trust will keep being a problem for Iraq…I’m not expecting politicians to trust each other but I hope they mature to trust democracy.

Iraqis-whether politicians or ordinary citizens-are yet to fully understand democracy but to be fair, one should not put all the blame on them; democracy takes time…democracy is a process, not an event.