[Peace-discuss] Iraqi election 'questions'

[Ricky Baldwin]

You won't need your eyeglasses to read between the
lines in this New York Times piece.  (By the way,
compare the headline to the very first sentence.  And
check out the defensive tone of paragraphs 2-5.)

Anyway, I thought this constitution was supposed to be
nixed if only a couple of *provinces* said no.  Or did
I dream that?

Ricky
 

Monitors in Iraq Review Votes Where 'Yes' Ballots Hit
90%

By DEXTER FILKINS and ROBERT F. WORTH Published:
October 18, 2005 
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 17 - Iraqi election officials said
Monday that they were investigating "unusually high"
vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces, where
as many as 99 percent of the voters were reported to
have cast ballots in favor of Iraq's new constitution.
The investigation raised the possibility that the
results of the referendum could be called into
question.

In a statement on Monday evening, the Independent
Election Commission of Iraq said the results of the
referendum on Saturday would have to be delayed "a few
days" because the apparently high number of "yes"
votes required election workers to "recheck, compare
and audit" the results.
The statement made no mention of the possibility of
fraud, but said results were being re-examined to
comply with internationally accepted standards.
Election officials say that under those standards,
voting procedures should be re-examined anytime a
candidate or a ballot question got more than 90
percent of the vote.
Members of the commission declined to give any
details. But one official with knowledge of the
balloting said the 12 provinces where the "yes" votes
exceeded 90 percent all had populations that were
majority Shiite or Kurdish. Leaders from those
communities strongly endorsed the proposed
constitution. 
Some of the provinces, the official said, reported
that 99 percent of the ballots counted were cast in
favor of the constitution.
It is difficult to imagine why any Shiite or Kurdish
political leaders would resort to fraud. Together the
two groups make up about 80 percent of Iraq's
population.
None of the provinces cited for a closer look had
Sunni majorities, the official said, although there
were reports of similarly lopsided votes against the
constitution in some Sunni areas. There are 3 Sunni
majority provinces, of a total of 18.
"When you find consistently very, very high numbers,
then that is cause for further checking," said the
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"Anything over 90 percent either way usually leads to
further investigation."
Aside from the announcement, the results of the
referendum began to come into focus. About 10 million
Iraqis cast ballots, or about 64 percent of registered
voters, said Barham Salih, the minister for planning.
Preliminary results, he said, show the constitution
appears to have been approved by about 65 percent of
those voting.
But now those totals are being questioned.
The announcement on Monday seemed likely to feed
doubts among many Iraqi voters, especially Sunnis,
many of whom are deeply suspicious of the Shiite
majority and of the Kurds. Such tensions could inhibit
the delicate effort now under way to woo the Sunnis,
many of whom have joined the insurgency, into the
democratic process.
According to the statement, the election commission
intended to re-examine many aspects of the balloting,
including "examining random samples from ballot
boxes," the statement said. Such a process could drag
out for days, raising the possibility that the
election for a full-term Parliament, planned for Dec.
15, would have to be delayed.
Some Sunni leaders said the lopsided votes suggested
fraud. Mishaan al-Jubouri, a National Assembly member
and Sunni leader, said he favored a thorough
investigation. 
The Shiite and Kurdish political parties in power
"were filling out forms and stuffing them into boxes,"
he said in an interview. "They were also voting in the
names of those who hadn't come to vote."
Mr. Jubouri said that monitors in several southern
provinces, for example, reported modest voter turnout
in their polling centers, but that after the polls
closed, officials released overall turnout figures
there that appeared to be extraordinarily high. They
included results from the predominantly Shiite
provinces of Najaf, Karbala and Wasit, he said. 
Some centers did not even have 20 or 30 percent voter
turnout, he said. 
"This gives an impression that the process wasn't
transparent," he added.
The allegations could not be verified. 
The reaction of some Sunni leaders to the
investigation was more muted; they said they were
largely resigned to the passage of the constitution
and wanted to prepare for nationwide elections in
December, when many Sunnis are expected to vote.




		
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