EL TORO HOSTING IRAQ VOTE EMIGRES TAKING PART IN HISTORIC ELECTION.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

Thousands of Iraqi exiles begin voting today in out-of-country elections at special polling places at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County, across the nation and around the world, juggling a mix of jubilation, fear and resentment.

While some local Iraqi expatriates revel in the chance to vote in their homeland's first election in decades, others fear their vote could cause retribution against family members back home. And some are angry at election officials who they say failed to reach out to the expat community.

``I am happy we are voting and it is a historical day,'' said Hatif Navi, 46, of Calabasas. ``But people are still reluctant. They are afraid of threats in general whether directly or through their family,'' said Nvai, who is president of a local Iraqi social club.

The election takes place in Iraq on Sunday, but election officials have organized three days of voting, ending Sunday, for Iraqi exiles in 14 countries. The voting process has already started in Australia.

Navi and other San Fernando Valley area Iraqis will vote at El Toro, one of five U.S. polling places and the only one west of the Mississippi River.

To cast a ballot, voters had to register at the El Toro site during a nine-day period that ended Tuesday. About 4,000 Iraqi exiles and their children - some of whom are eligible to vote even though they were not born in Iraq - have registered. Many drove more than 24 hours from as far away as Seattle to register and they will make a return trip this weekend to vote.

Despite officials extending registration days and hours, only six percent of the 70,000 estimated eligible Iraqi exiles in and around California registered.

Aram Iskenderian, a 43-year-old-Chatsworth network administrator, fled Baghdad a decade ago after several of his Christian friends disappeared following questioning by Iraqi intelligence officers. He yearns to vote but said he didn't realize he needed to register by last Tuesday, blaming election officials for poor outreach.

``I feel left out and angry but then maybe it's safer I don't vote,'' he said. ``Maybe somebody (in Iraq) might get your phone number or something. Maybe I am paranoid. It's hard to get rid of that feeling. It became a life habit (living under Saddam Hussein).''

In all, less than a quarter of the 1.2 million Iraqi exiles across 14 countries registered to vote with the International Organization for Migration, the nongovernmental group tasked by Iraq's electoral commission to head the $92 million out-of-country voting effort.

In the United States, about 10 percent of the 250,000 U.S. Iraqi exiles registered. The IOM said they did the best they could, considering they had less than two months to put the election together. And they have made every effort to make exiles feel secure, with heavy security at polling stations and even assurances that voting records will be kept confidential.

``There is a concern about safety among the community,'' said Dana Stinson, Western regional director of the IOM's out-of-country voting program. ``I tell them it's a personal choice, but I also tell them it's the best opportunity they have to influence their country.''

Voter turnout is expected to be lower than many exile groups first anticipated - in part, they say, because election officials started late and failed to set up enough polls near exile communities.

``The community wanted to participate but they couldn't. Most of the Iraqi community own stores and they couldn't leave their jobs,'' said Labib Sultan, director for the San Diego based Organization for Civil Society in Iraq.

Complicating matters further is the newspaper-size ballot with more than 200 party candidates, many unfamiliar even to Iraqis in Baghdad. And while many in the community say they were deterred by the unwieldy ballot others were like Navi, who was overcome by his sense of loyalty not only to his homeland but to the family he left behind there.

``We are not sure who is on the list or even the parties,'' he said. ``We do hope though they benefit the country.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com