Preparations complete for voting at Basra camps

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Preparations are in place for the special voting process at Basra’s detention camp centers, scheduled to take place on January 28, the media office of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Basra said on Monday. “Nearly 3,500 detainees will cast their votes in seven polling stations at Camp Bucca,” the office told IraqiNews.com news agency. All non-convicted detainees have the right to vote, in addition to those sentenced to less than five years. A total of 50 observers will monitor the voting process at Camp Bucca, according to the office. The detention centre, only two kilometers from the port city of Umm Qasr, is surrounded by chain link fences and concertina wire and guarded by hundreds of U.S. soldiers. The camp was named after Ron Bucca, a New York fire marshal and Army Reservist who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. SS (P) 1