BAGHDAD -- Iraq's election commission announced yesterday that officials were investigating "unusually high" numbers of "yes" votes in about a dozen provinces during Iraq's landmark referendum on a new constitution.
Word of the review came as Sunni Arab leaders repeated accusations of fraud after initial reports suggested the constitution had been passed by voters Saturday. Among the Sunni allegations are that police took ballot boxes from heavily "no" districts and that some "yes" areas recorded more votes than registered voters.
The Electoral Commission made no mention of fraud, and an official with knowledge of the election process cautioned that it was too early to say whether the unusual numbers were incorrect and if they would have an effect on the outcome.
But questions about the numbers raised tensions over the referendum, which already had sharply divided Iraqis. Most of the Shi'a majority and the Sunni Kurds -- the coalition that controls the government -- support the charter, while most Sunni Arabs sharply oppose a document they fear will tear Iraq to pieces and leave them weak.
Irregularities in Shi'a and Kurdish areas, which had been expected to vote strongly "yes," might not affect the final outcome. The main electoral battlegrounds were provinces with mixed populations. There were conflicting reports on whether two of those provinces, both strongly "yes," were among the areas with questionable figures.
A sandstorm also became a factor in the vote count, preventing many tallies from being flown from the provinces to Baghdad, where they were to be compiled and checked.
The Electoral Commission said it needed "a few more days" to produce final results, citing the need for the audit.
Election officials in many provinces have released their initial counts, indicating that Sunni attempts to defeat the charter failed.
But the commission found that the number of "yes" votes in most of Iraq's 18 provinces appeared "unusually high" and would be audited. Random samples would be taken from ballot boxes to be tested, said the commission's head, Adil al-Lami.
The high numbers were seen among the nine Shi'a provinces of the south and the three Kurdish ones in the north, Lami told the Associated Press.
Those provinces reported to AP that "yes" votes were above 90 percent, with some as high as 97 and 98 percent.
Two provinces that are crucial to the results -- Nineveh and Diyala, which have mixed Sunni, Shi'a and Kurd populations -- were not among those that appeared unusual, Lami said. He said their results "were reasonable and balanced according to the nature of the population in those areas."
But the official with knowledge of the counting process said the unexpected results were not isolated to the Shi'a and Kurdish provinces and were "all around the country." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the count.
Sunni opponents needed to win over either Diyala or Nineveh to veto the constitution. Sunnis had to get a two-thirds "no" vote in any three of the 18 provinces to defeat the charter, and they appeared to have gotten it in western Anbar and central Salahuddin, both heavily Sunni.
Nineveh and Diyala are each believed to have a slight Sunni Arab majority. But results reported by provincial electoral officials showed startlingly powerful "yes" votes of up to 70 percent in each.
A prominent Sunni Arab politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, claimed Diyala, in particular, had seen vote-rigging. He said he was told by the manager of a polling station in a Kurdish district that 39,000 votes, were cast although only 36,000 voters were registered there.
Mutlaq said soldiers in Diyala broke into a polling station in a Sunni district of Baquba and took ballot boxes heavy with "no" votes, and that later results showed a "yes" majority. His claims could not be independently verified.
"Bottom line, we can say that the whole operation witnessed interference from government forces," he said.
Mutlaq and Sunni Arab parliament member Meshaan al-Jubouri said polling officials in Nineveh had informed them that the provincial capital, Mosul, voted predominantly "no" -- as high as 80 percent -- while the Electoral Commission reported a 50-50 split.
Nineveh's deputy governor, Khesro Goran, a Kurd, dismissed the claims. "These declarations are excuses to justify the loss, and we did not receive any complaint (from the Electoral Commission) about such fears. Besides, the whole operation was under the supervision of the United Nations ... so no fraud occurred."
Sunni turnout appeared to have been strong, in contrast to January parliamentary elections, which Sunnis Arabs -- who had been the favored minority under Saddam Hussein -- largely boycotted.
President Bush said yesterday he was pleased Sunni Arabs cast so many ballots and called it an indication that Iraqis want to settle disputes peacefully.
Many Sunnis fear the new decentralized government outlined in the constitution will deprive them of their fair share of the country's vast oil wealth by creating virtually independent mini-states of Kurds in the north and Shi'as in the south, leaving Sunnis isolated in central and western Iraq.
If the constitution indeed passed, the first full-term parliament since Saddam's fall in 2003 would be elected Dec. 15 and would install a new government by Dec. 31. If the charter failed, the parliament would be temporary, tasked with drawing up a new draft constitution.
Facebook
Twitter