[Peace-discuss] Iraqi election 'questions'

[Morton K. Brussel]

Speaking with Mohammed Al-Heeti today, he said that the province in  
which Mosul is located voted against the constitution. That would  
make three against, and reject the ratification.  Clearly, the whole  
thing is a charade.--mkb
On Oct 18, 2005, at 11:08 AM, Ricky Baldwin wrote:

> 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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