[Vacets-local-dc] [Iraqi youth want democracy]

[Hai Tran]

 Iraqi youth want democracy
Mon Mar 21, 2005 10:33 AM GMT
 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Most of Iraq's youth want to live in a fully democratic country in five years, but many cannot picture it and see a "strongman" or religious leader as key to ending violence, an opinion poll shows.

The poll, conducted by the Iraqi Prospect Organisation among more than 800 university students and published on Monday, said many of Iraq's youth had a poor understanding of democracy, coloured by their experience of Saddam Hussein's rule and today's widespread instability.

"It seems...the majority of students are quite happy to support the idea of democracy taking root in the country," it said.

"(But) there is a poor recognition of what are considered essential components of democracy as well as a perception that democratic characteristics, such as the existence of multiple opinions or political trends within a society, are synonymous with a country's instability."

Conducted at universities in the capital Baghdad, Basra in southern Iraq and Mosul to the north between December 1 and January 29, the poll showed 60 percent of those interviewed thought that democracy was preferable to any other kind of government.

Democracy could give better education, jobs and wages for more of the population, they said. Ninety-one percent said living without fear was essential to democracy, but freedom of speech and political participation ranked lower.

There was strong support for women in government and 68 percent rejected a one-party state. But only 55 percent opposed army intervention in politics and 56 percent were against parliament being abolished in favour of the president.

"The desire for stability in the country has lead some to support the army's involvement in politics or the apparent wish for a 'strongman'," said the Iraqi Prospect Organisation, a non-profit group set up in 2002 by Iraqis in London.

The majority of young Iraqis did not support the separation of religion and state, the report showed.

A Shi'ite alliance won Iraq's historic January 30 election, with the northern Kurds taking second place. Discussions on forming a new government have stumbled on Kurdish concerns over the possible creation of an Islamist state and the status of their de facto autonomous northern territory.

Seventy-two percent of those interviewed wanted to see democracy in five years, while 58 percent thought that possible.

"The enthusiasm for democracy that this poll has demonstrated must be seized upon," the report said.



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