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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44553-2004Feb15.html
In Iraqi Towns, Electoral Experiment Finds Some Success
(Washington Post) Tobin Bradley, 29, the political adviser for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Nasiriyah, has carried out what may stand as one of the most ambitious democratic experiments in Iraq's history. In the province of Dhi Qar southeast of Baghdad, which is overwhelmingly Shiite Muslim, residents voting as families will have elected city councils in 16 of the 20 biggest cities by next month. Voters have typically elected professionals rather than tribal or religious leaders, although the process has energized Islamic parties. Activists have gone door to door to organize women, who turned out in large numbers.