Report: Fraud Marred Iraq Elections
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Original Source: The Associated Press
Via: CBS News
January 19, 2006

(AP) Numerous violations and reports of fraud marred Iraq's Dec. 15 election,
an international assessment team said in a report released Tursday, but did not question the final results.

The International Mission for Iraqi Elections, a 10-nation monitoring body led by Canada, recommended changes for future elections but made no call for repeating any voting from the December vote.

Sunni Arab leaders have denounced the vote, calling into question the results.

Some of Iraq's 220,000 election workers were among those blamed for violating their code of conduct with "questionable or illegal practices," said the report.

The election officials received around 2,000 complaints that alleged ballot box stuffing and theft, tally sheet tampering, intimidation, violence, incorrect voter lists, ballot shortages, multiple voting, improper police and military conduct, campaigning within polling centers and violations of a pre-election ban on campaigning.

The report also said some Iraqi security forces voted on election day after voting previously on an earlier day set aside for them.

The IECI also voided vote results from many polling stations where fraud was documented.

But the IECI did not have the means to investigate all complaints and did not probe
"a large number."

It also said additional fraud "in all probability" went undetected.

Source:
http://cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/19/iraq/main1219894.shtml