BAGHDAD, 29 December 2005 — The United Nations’ adviser to Iraq’s electoral commission yesterday rejected calls for a rerun of the Dec. 15 general elections made by protesters alleging widespread fraud. “The UN sees no justification for any call for a rerun of the election,” Craig Jenness said in a news conference that also saw the commission vigorously defend itself against the barrage of criticism it has been subjected to. “The UN is of the view that these elections were transparent and credible,” he added.
Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of several Iraqi cities over the past few day to denounce alleged electoral fraud in the general elections which gave Shiite-based religious parties a commanding lead in the preliminary results.
“We are not affected by these demonstrations, we are a technical committee, we are professional people,” said committee head Adel Al-Lami.
Commission member Abdel Hussein Al-Hendawi countered several of the specific charges made against the commission by political parties and stated that they had expected praise rather than attacks.
“There have been some unjust campaigns of criticism leveled against the electoral commission,” he said, adding that “terrorists are now threatening to kill members of the electoral commission and their families.” Commission member Safwat Al-Rashid told AFP that they were a bit taken aback by the attacks, but have learned to live with them. “We try to be calm and take it professionally,” he said. “A lot of people and political entities are frustrated and it is usual to express themselves in this way.”
It is a different story when they come to the commission headquarters to monitor the vote counting, he added.
“When they come visiting us, they are quite friendly,” he said. The commission pointed out that with some 11 million voters taking part, there was only one complaint registered for every 7,000 voters.
The members admitted that there were some cases of attempted vote rigging which would be dealt with.
“In the next few days we will cancel results in some polling stations that have seen vote rigging in some governorates,” said Hendawi.
Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Samarra yesterday to denounce alleged electoral fraud in elections. Demonstrators in the town 125 kilometers north of the capital, held banners calling for the dismissal of the electoral commission and the formation of a government of national unity.
“Jaafari. Hands off. This country doesn’t want you,” read one banner referring to the outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, who says he is prepared to form a new government after the Dec. 15 polls.
On Tuesday, thousands of demonstrators, from Sunni Arab and secular parties, took to the streets of Baghdad and Tikrit to demand new elections.
But Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, leader of a formerly Iran-based religious party that is one of the main planks of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, has also ruled out any possibility of election reruns.
“The election results cannot be invalidated,” said Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. “Elections cannot be held anew.”
Hakim and Kurdish leaders met in northern Iraq yesterday to discuss the formation of a new government even though final election results have yet to be announced.
Hakim said that his Shiite bloc would support the renomination of current President Jalal Talabani for a new presidential term.
“We endeavor to get all to participate in the permanent Iraqi government and support re-election of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani for the next presidency,” said Hakim while addressing the Kurdistan Parliament in Arbil yesterday.
