Iraq to spend $90 million for expats to vote in polls - $90 Bucks a head

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A spokesman of an influential group of Sunni Muslim clerics criticized on Saturday a decision to allow Iraqis abroad to vote in the January national election, arguing this would cast more doubts on the election's credibility.



"This will further complicate matters because the Iraqi people will be suspicious of any process that doesn't happen before their own eyes," Sheik Mohammed Bashar al-Faidhi of the Association of Muslim Scholars told The Associated Press.


"If it's already hard to control the process inside (the country), then how will it be controlled abroad?" he asked.


Iraqis will go to the polls by the end of January to choose a national assembly, which among other things will draft a permanent constitution. The vote is seen as a major step toward building democracy after years of war and dictatorship.

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