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Iraq poll panel to audit vote
Iraq's independent electoral commission has said it is verifying the ballot count from the country's constitutional referendum and will have to delay the announcement of a final result.
Figures provided by several governorates required "re-examination, comparison and verification because they are relatively high compared with international averages for elections" of this kind, a statement by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said on Monday.
The commission's statement came as Sunni Arab lawmaker, Mishaan al-Jubouri, claimed fraud had occurred in the vote - including instances of voting in hotly contested regions by pro-constitution Shia Muslims from other areas - repeating earlier claims of election-fixing made by other Sunni Muslim officials over the weekend.
"Despite its intention to announce global preliminary results as soon as possible, it (the commission) needs several more days to complete this difficult and complex operation after finding that figures from most provinces were too high," said the commission's statement in an apparent reference to turnout levels.
Unusually high
"Statements coming from most governorates indicating such high numbers that require us to recheck, compare and audit them, as they are unusually high according to the international standards," the commission said.
The commission said it would take random samples from ballot boxes from areas reporting "very high percentages or too low percentages in the results".
It did not specify which provinces the unusual reports were coming from, or say whether the unusual numbers could affect the outcome.
The electoral body added that it would "choose urns at random and examine them again, in particular where the figures were too low or too high compared with the general average.
"The commission will only announce results when they have been verified."
A source close to the commission said: "The problems are not in Sunni Arab zones."
No vote
While sources close to the electoral commission were quoted as saying that 55% of voters in Nineveh governorate had said "no" to the constitution, the secretary-general for the Iraqi Independent Front, Abd al-Razaq al-Jiburi, said more than 75% of voters had voted "no".
Al-Jiburi told Aljazeera: ''I have been informed by an employee of the electoral high commission in Mosul that the voting for the constitution has been 'no'.
''Figures from many polling stations suggest the percentage of those who have voted 'no' to the constitution ranges from 75% to 80%.
"Observers and employees at the electoral commission provided these figures," al-Jiburi added.
Asked why most observers expect Mosul to be crucial to the referendum's outcome, al-Jiburi said: ''It is true that Mosul is a decisive factor given that two governorates, Salaheddin and Anbar, have rejected the constitution - there is no room for controversy over their results. As for Mosul, if there is no fraud in the counting of the city's votes, the final outcome will be a 'no' for the constitution.''
Shia voting trend
Earlier on Monday, a commission spokesman said six majority Shia Muslim provinces in southern Iraq had voted by more than 90% in favour of the constitution, which aims to lay a foundation for the country following the ouster of Saddam Hussein's government.
The six provinces were Basra, Dhi Qar, Karbala, Misan, Najaf and Wasit, spokesman Farid Ayyar said.
Iraq's draft constitution requires a simple majority to pass but could be rejected if two-thirds of voters in three or more governorates vote "no".
Two Sunni Muslim-dominated provinces appeared to have rejected the text, by 80% in Salaheddin and by 54% in Diyala, so the results from the two other Sunni-dominated provinces in western and northern Iraq were crucial.
The tally from western Anbar and northern Nineveh, which includes the mixed city of Mosul, were not yet known, Ayyar had said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9809A50B-3AA1-4723-97D8-0CC429F67BC8.htm
The commission's statement came as Sunni Arab lawmaker, Mishaan al-Jubouri, claimed fraud had occurred in the vote - including instances of voting in hotly contested regions by pro-constitution Shia Muslims from other areas - repeating earlier claims of election-fixing made by other Sunni Muslim officials over the weekend.
"Despite its intention to announce global preliminary results as soon as possible, it (the commission) needs several more days to complete this difficult and complex operation after finding that figures from most provinces were too high," said the commission's statement in an apparent reference to turnout levels.
Unusually high
"Statements coming from most governorates indicating such high numbers that require us to recheck, compare and audit them, as they are unusually high according to the international standards," the commission said.
The commission said it would take random samples from ballot boxes from areas reporting "very high percentages or too low percentages in the results".
It did not specify which provinces the unusual reports were coming from, or say whether the unusual numbers could affect the outcome.
The electoral body added that it would "choose urns at random and examine them again, in particular where the figures were too low or too high compared with the general average.
"The commission will only announce results when they have been verified."
A source close to the commission said: "The problems are not in Sunni Arab zones."
No vote
While sources close to the electoral commission were quoted as saying that 55% of voters in Nineveh governorate had said "no" to the constitution, the secretary-general for the Iraqi Independent Front, Abd al-Razaq al-Jiburi, said more than 75% of voters had voted "no".
Al-Jiburi told Aljazeera: ''I have been informed by an employee of the electoral high commission in Mosul that the voting for the constitution has been 'no'.
''Figures from many polling stations suggest the percentage of those who have voted 'no' to the constitution ranges from 75% to 80%.
"Observers and employees at the electoral commission provided these figures," al-Jiburi added.
Asked why most observers expect Mosul to be crucial to the referendum's outcome, al-Jiburi said: ''It is true that Mosul is a decisive factor given that two governorates, Salaheddin and Anbar, have rejected the constitution - there is no room for controversy over their results. As for Mosul, if there is no fraud in the counting of the city's votes, the final outcome will be a 'no' for the constitution.''
Shia voting trend
Earlier on Monday, a commission spokesman said six majority Shia Muslim provinces in southern Iraq had voted by more than 90% in favour of the constitution, which aims to lay a foundation for the country following the ouster of Saddam Hussein's government.
The six provinces were Basra, Dhi Qar, Karbala, Misan, Najaf and Wasit, spokesman Farid Ayyar said.
Iraq's draft constitution requires a simple majority to pass but could be rejected if two-thirds of voters in three or more governorates vote "no".
Two Sunni Muslim-dominated provinces appeared to have rejected the text, by 80% in Salaheddin and by 54% in Diyala, so the results from the two other Sunni-dominated provinces in western and northern Iraq were crucial.
The tally from western Anbar and northern Nineveh, which includes the mixed city of Mosul, were not yet known, Ayyar had said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9809A50B-3AA1-4723-97D8-0CC429F67BC8.htm
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Officials said turnout from some areas seemed abnormally high and ballots needed to be double-checked.
Some Sunni Arab politicians have alleged that corrupt practices were allowed to boost the Yes vote.
However monitors from the United Nations said the vote went well and that most people had been able to vote.
The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said it needed several more days to complete the count "after finding that the figures from most provinces were too high".
Storm
The commission said in some areas nearly all votes indicated a Yes, and in others a No, and that in such circumstances the ballots would have to be audited, in line with international practice.
The count was also disrupted by a sandstorm that blew up in central Iraq, preventing ballots from being flown to Baghdad for counting and slowing their progress on the roads.
The result of the referendum was originally expected later this week, but the electoral commission warned it might now be put back several days.
Unofficial results leaked out suggesting that the referendum would be endorsed.
There were indications that Shia and Kurdish areas had voted heavily for the constitution, while opponents may have got the upper hand in only two of Iraq's provinces, not the three they need to veto the charter.
The Associated Press cited an anonymous official saying that heavily Sunni Anbar and central Salahuddin provinces had rejected the treaty by the required two-thirds, but that Ninevah and Diyala, thought to have slight Sunni majorities, may have voted in favour.
Reuters also said the vote appeared to have backed the constitution, but there was no official confirmation.
'Peaceful process'
Saleh al-Mutlaq, a prominent Sunni Arab politician, alleged vote-rigging in Diyala, saying soldiers had removed ballot boxes and that there had been more votes cast than registered electors.
However, there was international approval that the vote went ahead relatively peacefully, and that turnout was high, even in Sunni areas where some groups urged a boycott.
US President George W Bush called the high participation "a positive development", and said it showed that "people are willing to try to work out their political differences through a process, a peaceful process".
One place where few people appeared to have voted was Ramadi, west of Baghdad, where militant activity has been high.
US helicopters and warplanes bombed villages near the town on Sunday, killing about 70 militants, the US military said, though eye-witnesses said many of the dead were civilians.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4351680.stm