Abu Dhabi: Nabeel Damluji, 80, an Iraqi who has been living in Abu Dhabi for 38 years, voted in his country's crucial parliamentary elections hoping that he could spend the rest of his life in his home country.
"I have been away from the home country for almost four decades. During the recent years, I could not think of going back home due to the escalating violence," Damluji, a consulting engineer, told Gulf News on Saturday after casting his vote with his wife at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec).
A large number of Iraqis, most of them with their families, turned up at the Adnec since early Saturday morning to cast their votes.
"But I think, these elections will help restore the unity and peace in the country, so that I can go back home," Damluji said.
Many of his compatriots said non-sectarian stand taken by the politicians during the election campaign gave the hope of restoring unity and peace in Iraq. "Contrary to the trend during 2005 elections, at least some political parties discarded sectarian interests to form broader political formations which gives me hope," said Omar Badir, 34, an architect, who has been living in Abu Dhabi for four years.
The new political developments give rise to hope that sectarian identities like Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Christians are fading, Badir said.
His wife Reem Talib, 33, also an architect, said she hoped her vote would contribute to restoring the peace in the country. "So that, I can go back to my country soon," she said.
Qais Al Mukdadi, 42, a laboratory manager, said that although sectarian tendencies still remain in the political spectrum, there is improvement. "People really need a unified Iraq, notwithstanding the religious or ethnic identities", said Mukdadi, who has been living in the capital since 2000.
Dr Kawbab Al Rawi was little bit sad that she could not cast her vote due to the lack of some documents. Still she is hopeful that these elections would restore the normalcy so that people who love the country including foreigners could go back there.
"When I was young I was wearing the dress stitched by Pakistanis, but all those people left the country due to violence," she said.
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