SYRACUSAN GOES TO MICHIGAN TO VOTE IN IRAQ'S ELECTION.(News)

Byline: Molly Hennessy-Fiske Staff writer

On Friday, Iraqi native Kafi Ahmed, 53, voted for the first time.

"Because I am happy, I don't know what I want to do," Ahmed said by phone after voting in an abandoned store outside Detroit, Mich. "I want to dance, but I can't. I shy."

Ahmed's journey to vote in Iraq's first national election in more than 50 years began two weeks ago, when she packed her Iraqi identification and lucky red sweater and caught a train from Syracuse to Detroit.

She stayed with friends and was driven to the polling place. There she cleared metal detectors, presented her identification, had her picture taken, finger stamped and cast her paper ballot.

About 26,000 Iraqis registered to vote in the United States during the past week. They gathered at polling sites in Detroit; Chicago; Nashville, Tenn.; Irvine, Calif.; and Washington, D.C.

Some organizers estimate they accounted for about 10 percent of the 240,000 eligible Iraqi voters in the United States, although the International Organization for Migration, which organized overseas voting in 14 countries outside of Iraq, is not releasing voter turnout figures.

Ahmed came to Syracuse in 1999. She called her relatives last week, who told her they plan to vote at a Baghdad school on Sunday. Car bombs exploded in the area earlier this month, but Ahmed said her family is not afraid.

"They all happy about the vote because people, Iraqis, feel they now have freedom - they can speak, can write in the newspaper and no go to jail," she said.

Overseas voting continues through Sunday, election day in Iraq.

Eqdam Radhi, 38, manager of Iraqi American House for Social Services in Detroit, hosted Ahmed during her stay.

Radhi, an American citizen, also voted Friday. He had to reassure fellow voters that they would not lose their American citizenship for voting.

Unlike U.S. elections, Iraqis are choosing parties, not candidates. Ballots included 111 choices, listed by party name and number. The percentage of votes a party wins determines how many of its candidates become part of the new 275-member assembly that will write Iraq's constitution.

Ahmed said she voted for the National Democratic Party because she believes its leaders will severe ties with Arab countries.

Her people don't want much, she said: Gasoline, food and jobs.

They lived long enough under Saddam Hussein without telephones, satellites and the Internet, she said.

"If people in Iraq dream, Saddam say no dream," she said, and "... If Iraqi people no vote, Saddam come back."

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Carlos Osorio/Special to The Post-Standard

EQDAM RADHI (left), manager of Iraqi American House for Social Services in Detroit, applauds as Kafi Ahmed of Syracuse holds his daughter, Hawraa Radhi, after voting in the Iraqi election in Southgate, Mich., Friday. Beside her is Radhi's wife, Ahlam T. Alqaragholy. "I want to dance, but I can't. I shy," Ahmed said. Color.