Feb 3, 2005 / 22:00 pm
While Iraq is calling Sunday's elections a success, Christians in the Mideastern country and in the United States are claiming they were denied the right to vote.
Christian Assyrians in Iraq claim that Kurdish officials in North Iraq prevented the delivery of ballot boxes to predominantly Assyrian villages.
In the United States, Iraqi Christians claim the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq chose to locate five U.S. polling locations close to expatriate Kurdish populations and not anywhere close to the larger Assyrian communities in Northern California, reported the Daily News, based on information from the Center for Religious Freedom.
Susan Patto, chief of staff to the secretary general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement in Iraq, estimates about 50,000 Assyrian were prevented from voting.