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In Iraq, Sunni Leaders Allege Widespread Election Fraud

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 21:00 CST

BAGHDAD, Iraq _ Sunni leaders alleged Tuesday that rampant fraud in last week's election squelched the voice of their supporters as election officials released a preliminary tally for the entire country that indicates the main Shiite religious bloc will have the dominant hand in forming the next government.

Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the leading Sunni political alliance, the Iraqi Accordance Front, said the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq should take unspecified measures to change the election results that he and many other Sunni leaders say were skewed by intimidation and ballot forgery.

In Baghdad, for example, al-Dulaimi's group and the secular Shiite list headed by Ayad Allawi were expected to make strong showings. But Dulaimi's slate only took 19 percent of the vote and Allawi 14 percent, while the Shiite bloc won 59 percent.

Sunni leaders allege that in many cases their supporters were prevented from casting votes, ballots were tampered with and militias aligned with the main Shiite religious parties stood outside polling places intimidating voters.

Baghdad province, which includes the capital, was a place where Allawi and the Sunni lists needed to do well to have a chance to win significant power in molding the first full-term government since the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

"If no serious action is taken (by the election commission) in which the others get their rights, we get our rights and every list gets its rights, we will demand the elections be redone in Baghdad," al-Dulaimi said Tuesday at a news conference.

The preliminary results released Tuesday, which account for 90 percent of the vote, show the Shiite religious bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, winning by huge margins in 11 of the 18 provinces. The main Kurdish list won by big margins in three provinces that make up Kurdistan as well as Kirkuk.

Sunnis were ahead in Anbar, Diyala and Nineva provinces.

While the Shiite bloc won by wide margins, it will likely fall far short of winning the 184 seats needed in parliament to avoid the need to form a coalition. The Shiite bloc partnered with the Kurdish list to form an interim government last April and would likely have to turn to the Kurds again.

Several Sunni leaders said that Iraq's already fragile security situation could deteriorate if the results are allowed to stand and demanded the election commission quickly address their grievances.

Saleh Mutlaq, the leader of the Sunni alliance National Iraqi Front, as well al-Dulaimi called on the international community, including the United Nations and Arab League, to intervene in the elections.

"These results are false," Mutlaq said. "We call on all the Arab nation, peoples and governments to wake up and be aware of their responsibilities."

The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said as of Tuesday that they had received 1,000 complaints, including 20 serious complaints that could have affected results. They are still sifting through the objections and will not certify the election until that process is completed, most likely in early January.

"They are serious and they may change the results, but I don't think the complaints will make a big change in the overall outcome," election official Farid Ayar said.

Saad Muttalibi, an aide to Allawi, said that the preliminary results have been shocking to Allawi and others on his list. Allawi's best showing appeared to be in Baghdad where he had 13.8 percent of the vote.

Prior to the election, Allawi's group had commissioned polling that showed it winning between 45 and 60 seats in the new parliament. Judging by the preliminary results, Muttalibi said members of Allawi's list believe they could have as few as 17 seats, down from the 40 seats held in the interim government.

Muttalibi said election watchers for the list reported several cases of election violations, including a complaint that ballots from a polling site near Baqouba with a large pro-Allawi turnout have gone missing.

But Muttalibi said Allawi, a Washington favorite, suffered more from a pre-election election smear campaign and an implicit message by Shiite clerics that it was the duty of their followers to vote for the main Shiite bloc.

Now, Muttalibi said he hopes some sort of agreement can be reached that would give significant voices to secular politicians in the next government.

"If there isn't a political agreement, I fear Iraq will be turned into a weak Islamic state with Shiite interest and Sunni interest tearing in different directions," he said.

Speaking at an end-of-the-year press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad acknowledged that voters appeared to be casting ballots along sectarian and ethnic lines. The ambassador, however, said he would encourage Shiite leaders to make the government broadly representative.

"For Iraq to succeeed there has to be cross-ethnic and cross-sectarian cooperation," Khalilzad said. "Sectarianism undercuts prospects for success and increases the risk of conflict among sects."

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(Nadeem Majeed contributed to this report.)

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(c) 2005, Chicago Tribune.

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Source: Chicago Tribune

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