Felix the Cat
12-20-2005, 05:03 PM
Sunnis decry Iraq election results (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051220.wiraq1220/BNStory/International/)
JASON STRAZIUSO — Sunni Arabs alleged Tuesday that last week's parliamentary elections were fraudulent, especially in Baghdad province, and said that if the irregularities are not corrected, new balloting must be held in Iraq's largest electoral district.
An electoral commission official said that while more than 1,000 complaints from the Dec. 15 vote had been received and were being investigated, only 20 were “very serious,” and he did not expect them to change the overall result, which will be announced in early January.
The United Iraqi Alliance – a Shia party – won about 59 per cent of the vote, according to returns from 89 per cent of ballot boxes counted in Baghdad province. The Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front received about 19 per cent, and the Iraqi National List headed by Ayad Allawi, a secular-minded Shiite, got about 14 per cent.
The Iraqi Accordance Front, a coalition of three major Sunni groups, rejected those results, warning of “grave repercussions on security and political stability” if the mistakes were not corrected.
The Sunni officials concentrated their protests on results from Baghdad province, the biggest electoral district.
“It was obvious to us that the forgery and the falsification have been taking place even before the opening of the ballot boxes,” it said.
The front said it considered the results “a falsification of the will of the people.”
If no measures are taken, “we will demand that the elections be held again in Baghdad,” said Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the alliance. “If this demand is not met, then we will resort to other measures.”
A senior member of the United Iraqi Alliance, Jawad al-Maliki, responded that the Sunnis need to respect the outcome. “Democracy means accepting the opinion of the majority,” he said.
Electoral commission official Farid Ayar said more than 1,000 complaints had been received, and he described 20 as “very serious.” He would not elaborate but added that, although they could cancel the votes cast at a particular polling station, they were not expected to alter the overall election results significantly.
“We are studying all of them, we have two or three committees studying them. They are serious and they may change the results, but I don't think the complaints will make a big change in the overall result,” he said.
There were more than 33,000 polling stations in Iraq's 18 provinces, and “if we have a serious violation at four polling stations that is not many voters,” Mr. Ayar said.
Final results will not be ready before early January, instead of late December, to give time to investigate the complaints, he said.
Mr. Ayar, who pledged that the commission “will present anything, we can't hide anything from the people,” also said he saw nothing unusual in the Sunni allegations.
“We hear various statements by the political alliances, coalitions, parties and entities. This is a normal thing in all elections. There are those who win and those who don't win,” he said. “We respect all opinions, but these are the numbers we have. We deal with numbers. We have no intention of forging anything or adding to anything.”
U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said there had been 20 serious complaints as of Monday that could affect the outcome.
“Final results will not be announced until those red [serious] complaints are looked at,” he said.
Also lodging a protest was Ibrahim al-Janabi, an official of Mr. Allawi's Iraqi National List.
“The elections commission is not independent. It is influenced by political parties and by the government,” he said. “We announce that we have reservations about the counting of the ballots in the commission. We demand that the process be transparent.”
Preliminary returns showed Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines, with a commanding lead held by the religious Shia coalition that dominates the current government.
The results for the 275-member parliament from 11 provinces showed the United Iraqi Alliance winning strong majorities in Baghdad and largely Shia southern provinces.
Kurdish parties were overwhelmingly ahead in their three northern provinces, while results from one of the four predominantly Sunni provinces, Salahuddin, showed the Sunnis winning an overwhelming majority there.
Early vote tallies suggested disappointing results for a secular party led by Mr. Allawi, a former prime minister and a U.S. favourite who hoped to bridge the often violent divide that has emerged between followers of rival branches of Islam since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
JASON STRAZIUSO — Sunni Arabs alleged Tuesday that last week's parliamentary elections were fraudulent, especially in Baghdad province, and said that if the irregularities are not corrected, new balloting must be held in Iraq's largest electoral district.
An electoral commission official said that while more than 1,000 complaints from the Dec. 15 vote had been received and were being investigated, only 20 were “very serious,” and he did not expect them to change the overall result, which will be announced in early January.
The United Iraqi Alliance – a Shia party – won about 59 per cent of the vote, according to returns from 89 per cent of ballot boxes counted in Baghdad province. The Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front received about 19 per cent, and the Iraqi National List headed by Ayad Allawi, a secular-minded Shiite, got about 14 per cent.
The Iraqi Accordance Front, a coalition of three major Sunni groups, rejected those results, warning of “grave repercussions on security and political stability” if the mistakes were not corrected.
The Sunni officials concentrated their protests on results from Baghdad province, the biggest electoral district.
“It was obvious to us that the forgery and the falsification have been taking place even before the opening of the ballot boxes,” it said.
The front said it considered the results “a falsification of the will of the people.”
If no measures are taken, “we will demand that the elections be held again in Baghdad,” said Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the alliance. “If this demand is not met, then we will resort to other measures.”
A senior member of the United Iraqi Alliance, Jawad al-Maliki, responded that the Sunnis need to respect the outcome. “Democracy means accepting the opinion of the majority,” he said.
Electoral commission official Farid Ayar said more than 1,000 complaints had been received, and he described 20 as “very serious.” He would not elaborate but added that, although they could cancel the votes cast at a particular polling station, they were not expected to alter the overall election results significantly.
“We are studying all of them, we have two or three committees studying them. They are serious and they may change the results, but I don't think the complaints will make a big change in the overall result,” he said.
There were more than 33,000 polling stations in Iraq's 18 provinces, and “if we have a serious violation at four polling stations that is not many voters,” Mr. Ayar said.
Final results will not be ready before early January, instead of late December, to give time to investigate the complaints, he said.
Mr. Ayar, who pledged that the commission “will present anything, we can't hide anything from the people,” also said he saw nothing unusual in the Sunni allegations.
“We hear various statements by the political alliances, coalitions, parties and entities. This is a normal thing in all elections. There are those who win and those who don't win,” he said. “We respect all opinions, but these are the numbers we have. We deal with numbers. We have no intention of forging anything or adding to anything.”
U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said there had been 20 serious complaints as of Monday that could affect the outcome.
“Final results will not be announced until those red [serious] complaints are looked at,” he said.
Also lodging a protest was Ibrahim al-Janabi, an official of Mr. Allawi's Iraqi National List.
“The elections commission is not independent. It is influenced by political parties and by the government,” he said. “We announce that we have reservations about the counting of the ballots in the commission. We demand that the process be transparent.”
Preliminary returns showed Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines, with a commanding lead held by the religious Shia coalition that dominates the current government.
The results for the 275-member parliament from 11 provinces showed the United Iraqi Alliance winning strong majorities in Baghdad and largely Shia southern provinces.
Kurdish parties were overwhelmingly ahead in their three northern provinces, while results from one of the four predominantly Sunni provinces, Salahuddin, showed the Sunnis winning an overwhelming majority there.
Early vote tallies suggested disappointing results for a secular party led by Mr. Allawi, a former prime minister and a U.S. favourite who hoped to bridge the often violent divide that has emerged between followers of rival branches of Islam since the fall of Saddam Hussein.