Good News and Bad From Iraq

From Friends of Democracy in Iraq:

Good News:

Karbala -- People at coffee shops, cars and in the streets anxiously praising this list or that or mentioning negative characteristic for this candidate or that. .... Mr. Jabir Al-Tarafi, Election Civil Alliance member, ... said that the election is considered as putting the first brick in Iraq's new future.

And Bad:

The security situation in Kirkuk is generally stable meanwhile there is a conflict in the political environment of Kirkuk in which most of the Turkmen parties and the Arab parties have threatened to withdraw from the elections ...

The post goes on to say that two parties in Kirkuk are upset that voter registration time was curtailed earlier than they wished, and the spokesperson of one of the parties said that unless the problem is solved, "it will lead to a civil war."