Iraqis Abroad Voting?
 

For the past several weeks, I've seen news reports about Iraqis abroad voting - in the US, UK, Germany, etc. Many of them have left Iraq decades ago, and probably have citizenship in their current country of residence. Why are they allowed to vote in the election of a country where they are not citizens? Or did they retain Iraqi citizenship for life by virtue of being born there?

Yeah I would like to know this too? Because I saw a new report of some professor at a major university saying that she was going to be voting in the election. And I said to myself what the fuck? Can they really do that even though they live in the U.S. permanantly?

Many nations support dual citizenship. And, I guess the powers that be decided that a broad definition of Iraqi citizenship was better than a narrow one for this preliminary election.

IMO, if you have been living away from your home country for decades you should NOT be allowed to vote in their elections.

no kidding...at the rate the elections seem to be going, it would be highly ironic if the overseas votes overpowered the native vote...

If i lived in iraq, i would be slightly/highly upset that my country's government would be elected mostly by people who haven't lived here in years.

i *can* understand why people who hold iraqi citizenships should be allowed to vote, but basically, if they aren't going to live there, they really shouldn't have considerable influence over the gov't...

i think that it is probably a good idea for these elections to allow a broad definition of citizenship, but i can see it sparking some controversy, especially if the out of country vote is highly prominent..

God forbid these people leave the country because their life was threatened... now that it's free they shouldnt have any say in their home country. Besides, the moderate vote of those living in the western countries could only hurt our cause.

The US allows its citizens to vote even if they haven't lived in the US for decades too, including those who have dual citizenship. Why not Iraqis?

The only thing I have against these "foreign Iraqis" is their blanket condemnation of those in Iraq who are hesitant to vote for fear of their lives, when they themselves are too scared to even live in the country.

The policy of letting people who have not been in Iraq for decades vote in the elections seems unfair and highly political to me. Apparently, people who have never even been to the country, but whose parents are from there, are eligible to vote too. I believe that the US government has done this because Iraqis abroad are a lot more likely to vote for candidates favorable to the US.

I agree. Allowing ex-Iraqi citizens and the children of ex-Iraqi citizens the right to vote is ridiculous. I saw a girl on the news that had just voted...she sounded like a typical 18 year old bimbo from the suburbs in the states. "Like, this is so cool being able to vote, like there are so many choices”.

This is the same system that is currently in place in the US. Again, why should it be any different for Iraqis?