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Iraq election commission checking ballots
18.10.2005
By Sameer N. Yacoub
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A
sandstorm that muddied Baghdad's skies cleared,
allowing officials to resume flying ballot boxes to
the capital Tuesday so "unusually high" vote totals
in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces can be checked by
election officials.
The investigation by Iraq's election commission has
raised the possibility that the results of the
referendum could be called into question. As many as
99 percent of the voters reportedly approved Iraq's
draft constitution in some of the provinces being
investigated.
Meanwhile, insurgents resumed attacks that had
fallen sharply during Saturday's vote at heavily
protected polling stations across the country.
In Baghdad, militants shot and killed an adviser to
one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials as he drove
to work on Tuesday, police said.
In fighting in western Iraq, two U.S. Marines and
four militants were killed near the town of Rutba,
not far from the Jordanian border, on Monday, the
military said. At least 1,978 members of the U.S.
military have died since the beginning of the Iraq
war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press
count.
Adil al-Lami, head of the Independent Electoral
Commission of Iraq, told The Associated Press on
Tuesday that ballot boxes were arriving from the
provinces and that employees had resumed counting.
"If we suspect that the numbers are higher or lower
than we expected, we have to double-check them, and
this audit means it might be several more days
before we announce the final outcome," he said. "We
are not concerned whether the outcome is `yes' or
`no.' We are only interested in making the process
technically a success."
He said the commission is "a neutral body" acting
"as a referee."
The investigation by the commission in Iraq's
landmark referendum has raised questions about
irregularities in the balloting.
Word of the review came Monday as Sunni Arab leaders
repeated accusations of fraud after initial reports
from the provinces suggested the constitution had
passed. Among the Sunni allegations are that police
took ballot boxes from heavily "no" districts, and
that some "yes" areas had more votes than registered
voters.
The Electoral Commission made no mention of fraud,
and an official with knowledge of the election
process cautioned that it was too early to say
whether the unusual numbers were incorrect or if
they would affect the outcome. But questions about
the numbers raised tensions over Saturday's
referendum, which has already sharply divided
Iraqis.
Most of the Shiite majority and the Kurds _ the
coalition that controls the government _ support the
charter, while most Sunni Arabs sharply opposed a
document they fear will tear Iraq to pieces and
leave them weak and out of power.
Irregularities in Shiite and Kurdish areas, expected
to vote strongly "yes," may not affect the outcome.
The main electoral battlegrounds were provinces with
mixed populations, two of which went strongly "yes."
There were conflicting reports whether those two
provinces were among those with questionable
figures.
At Baghdad's counting center, election workers cut
open plastic bags of tally sheets sent by plane and
helicopter from provincial stations. Nearby, more
workers, dressed in white T-shirts and caps bearing
the election commission's slogan, sat behind
computer screens punching in the numbers.
Election officials in many provinces have released
their initial counts, indicating that Sunni attempts
to defeat the charter failed.
But the commission found that the number of "yes"
votes in most provinces appeared "unusually high"
and would be audited, with random samples taken from
ballot boxes to test them.
The high numbers were seen among the nine Shiite
provinces of the south and the three Kurdish ones in
the north, al-Lami said. Those provinces reported to
the AP "yes" votes above 90 percent, with some as
high as 97 and 98 percent.
Two provinces that are crucial to the results _
Ninevah and Diyala, which have mixed Sunni, Shiite
and Kurd populations _ were not among those that
appeared unusual.
But the official with knowledge of the counting
process said the unexpected results were not
isolated to the Shiite and Kurdish provinces and
were "all around the country." The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the count.
Sunni opponents needed to win over either Diyala or
Ninevah to veto the constitution. Sunnis had to get
a two-thirds "no" vote in any three of Iraq's 18
provinces to defeat the charter, and they appeared
to have gotten it in western Anbar and central
Salahuddin, both heavily Sunni.
Ninevah and Diyala are each believed to have a
slight Sunni Arab majority. But results reported by
provincial electoral officials showed startlingly
powerful "yes" votes of up to 70 percent in each.
Allegations of fraud in those areas could throw into
question the final outcome.
But questions of whether the reported strong "yes"
vote there is unusual are complicated by the fact
that Iraq has not had a proper census in some 15
years, meaning the sectarian balance is not firmly
known.
In Tuesday violence, insurgents shot and killed Ayed
Abdul Ghani, an adviser to Osama al-Najafi, Iraq's
industry minister and one of the country's top Sunni
Arabs.
The shooting occurred in new Baghdad, an eastern
section of the capital, as Ghani was driving to work
at about 7:45 a.m., said police Maj. Falah Al-Mohammedawi.
Before Iraq's constitutional referendum, al-Najafi
had predicted that voters would reject the document
because it favors Kurds and majority Shiites over
the Sunni minority.
AP
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