U.N. declares Iraq vote ‘credible’

A top U.N. official yesterday declared Iraq’s recent parliamentary elections legitimate, even as the country’s election commission pledged to intensify its review for fraud and ballot-box stuffing.

Craig Jenness said his U.N. election team had determined the Dec. 15 voting to be fair and open.

“Turnout was high and the day was largely peaceful; all communities participated,” Mr. Jenness, a Canadian authority on elections, told reporters in Baghdad, adding that he saw no reason for new balloting to be held.

“The United Nations is of the view that these elections were transparent and credible,” he said.

Political leaders, including Sunni groups behind street demonstrations criticizing the dominant Shi’ite religious bloc and demanding new elections, continued to negotiate on how to form a government, a Western diplomat said.

That process could take months, he said in a telephone interview with The Washington Times from Baghdad.

The diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said international observers, aware of the importance of credible elections, might look more carefully at how the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) is processing purported irregularities.

“Of course the election is legitimate,” IECI spokesman Farid Ayar said, although he added that some ballots will be invalidated because of fraud at less than a dozen voting centers in Baghdad, Irbil and Kirkuk.

Mr. Jenness said the number of complaints was less than one for every 7,000 voters. About 70 percent of Iraq’s 15 million voters went to the polls.

The elections are seen as a crucial step in Iraq’s political process, ushering in a new four-year national assembly and government.

The hope in Washington is that a government representing all of Iraq’s religious and ethnic factions will weaken the violent insurgency and speed up a U.S. military withdrawal.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an open letter to the people of Iraq released yesterday, said that he was impressed by how the country’s political leaders were “embracing the democratic process.”

“The world is watching these events unfold with respect and admiration,” Mr. Rumsfeld said. “We look forward to supporting your wise decisions in fashioning a broadly based government that can earn the support of all elements of the Iraqi people.”

Preliminary results, which gave a big lead to the ruling Shi’ite religious bloc, also indicated that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a former Washington insider, will not be re-elected to the new 275-member parliament, his office told the Associated Press.

Before the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Mr. Chalabi, then living in exile, was a favorite of Congress and the Defense Department.

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