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People
in and around the northern city of Mosul say they've
been unjustly deprived of their votes because of
logistical errors.
Election officials in the northern city of Mosul are
furious about a mix-up in which Baghdad failed to
send them enough ballot papers and boxes in time for
the vote.
The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, IECI,
sent extra ballot boxes to Mosul on January 31, a
day after the elections, as a shortage had prevented
thousands of residents from voting.
There was no suggestion the IECI asked them to hold
a second poll using the extra ballot boxes. But an
election official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the local branch of the commission
refused even to accept the boxes, saying they now
distrusted both the electoral process and the IECI
itself.
The official said electoral staff and local
representatives of political parties are meeting to
formulate a complaint to the IECI about the
problems.
Parts of Baghdad and Basrah received insufficient
ballot papers, and in some cases none at all.
IECI director Adel al-Lami said on February 1 that
the issue of late or missing ballots would be
discussed by the commission, but declined to say
what action would be taken.
IECI headquarters in Baghdad is currently in the
second phase of counting about eight million
ballots, and final results are expected to be
announced in about a week.
Ballot boxes and papers arrived late or not at all
in several towns around Mosul, including Sinjar,
Hamdaniyah, Shaikhan, Bartallah, Bashiqah and Qush.
Angry demonstrators, mainly Kurds and Christians,
protested in some areas.
In Sheikhan, in the northeast corner of Ninewa
province, protestors paraded banners saying "Don't
Deprive us of Our Right to Vote" and "The Election
is for All", as they chanted in front of the mayors
office on January 31.
Some also carried Kurdish flags. Kurdish parties say
200,000 Kurds were deprived of their vote in the
Mosul area.
Shaikhan mayor Basil Jooqi said nearly 20,000 people
in the town had been prevented from voting, and
criticised the IECI for failing to ensure that
election materials arrived in time.
Tahsin Beg, the chief of Iraq's Yezidi religious
minority, was at the demonstrations. "We want our
voices to reach the Kurdish leadership, the IECI,
the United Nations, the United States and the United
Kingdom," he said. "Why did they prevent us voting?
We Yezidis and Christians are angry with this
situation, and the matter must be resolved one way
or another."
In the town of Sinjar, in the west of Ninewa
province, a senior official from the Kurdistan
Democratic Party, Fadhil Meerani, said the IECI had
supplied 12,000 ballot papers for an electorate of
72,000. He said the IECI did promise to fly in more
of the forms, but these never arrived.
This story has not been bylined because of concerns
for the security of IWPR reporters.
http://www.iwpr.net
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