Crossposted at you-know-where and Myleftwing
Juan Cole reports that the fraud is too obvious to ignore:
Al-Hayat reports that 643,000 votes were cast in Ninevah Province (capital: Mosul). At the time it filed, 419,000 had been preliminarily counted, and the vote was running 75 percent in favor. Ninevah Province was the most likely place that Sunni Arabs opposing the constitution might be able to get a 2/3s “no” vote.
Several of my knowledgeable readers are convinced that the Ninevah voting results as reported so far look like fraud. One suspected that the Iraqi government so feared a defeat there that they over-did the ballot stuffing and ended up with an implausible result.
More below…
So they overdid it, did they?
One of my Iraqi-American correspondents compared the turnout statistics from Ninevah and Diyala provinces last Jan. 30 to those coming out now, and found the current numbers completely unbelievable. He pointed out that the Iraqi Islamic Party had not garnered many votes in Ninevah last January, and its support of the constitution could not hope to explain the hundreds of thousands of “yes” votes the constitution appeared to receive on Saturday.
I guess that you need Diebold-style technology to commit election fraud with the requisite amount of finesse.
Go read the whole thing at juancole.com.
Although the tips should go to Juan 🙂
I’m sure Sunni leaders will criticize any Sunnis who are angered by this as “tin foil hat” conspiracists. The focus should be on figuring out ways that Sunnis can be successful in future elections. This shouldn’t intensify the insurgency at all.
Crooked elections must be a basic ingredient for Bush style democracy. Does this surprise anyone? Heck, I expected it.
Much like the ballyhooed ‘election’ in Afghanistan by bushco…who have conveniently along with the press ignored stories like this-‘http://tinyurl.com/dxpox.
At least 50 people fired for election fraud in Afghanistan and they are still not done counting after election over a month ago. I’d say the whole mess there is a huge joke..what a surprise, right. And why should Iraq be any different?
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As was reported here in your diary @BooMan ::
BAGHDAD, Iraq Oct 17, 2005 — Election workers announced “unusually high” vote counts in Iraq’s landmark referendum on the draft constitution, saying Monday that they will audit results showing unexpected ratios of “yes” to “no” votes from some parts of the country
The constitution requires a simple majority to be approved but could be defeated if two-thirds of voters in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces reject it.
There are majority Sunni populations in four provinces — Al-Anbar, Diyala, Nineveh and Salaheddin — and all reported strong voter turnout. Media reports of a “yes” victory in Nineveh, which includes the restive mixed city of Mosul were refuted by regional electoral head Dhaher Habib al-Juburi, who said: “There is no truth to these reports,” and stressed it would take days for the ballots to be properly counted.
Two Sunni-dominated provinces had rejected the text, central commission spokesman Farid Ayyar, citing provisional figures of 80 percent in Salaheddin and 54 percent in Diyala. Results from the two other Sunni-dominated provinces, Al-Anbar and Nineveh, were therefore crucial. “The general trend in Al-Anbar is ‘no,'” said Adel al-Lami, president of the commission, without giving further details.
Pale neon lighting illuminated election workers in Baghdad as they opened clear plastic boxes containing vote tallies brought in from around the country.
Iraq’s neighbors Jordan and Iran congratulated Baghdad on the vote, with Amman saying the large turnout was “extremely favorable” no matter what the result, and Tehran adding that Iraq faced the promise of a “bright future with peace and stability”.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Javier Solana, the EU’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy said in a joint statement: “This is another historic step for the Iraqi people.”
President Bush said today that he was pleased that Sunni Arabs cast so many ballots.
YES – Prez Bush likes extra votes :: stuffed ballot boxes in Iraq, Ohio and Florida!
Spread Freedom and Democracy – spread ballots.
▼ ▼ ▼ A MUST READ
Why would I be surprised?