Triumph in Iraq

Craig Jenness

The UN has given its stamp of approval on the legitmacy of the December 15 Iraq elections.


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A United Nations official said Wednesday that Iraq's recent elections were credible and there was no justification for a rerun of the vote that gave a strong lead to the Shiite religious bloc dominating the current government.

...The United Nations official, Craig Jenness, said at a news conference organized by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq that the U.N.-led international election assistance team found the elections to be credible and transparent. "Turnout was high and the day was largely peaceful, all communities participated."

...Iraqi officials said they had found some instances of fraud that were enough to cancel the results in that place, but not to hold a rerun. There were more than 1,500 complaints made about the elections, with about 50 of them considered serious enough to possibly result in the cancellation of results in some places.

"After studying all the complaints, and after the manual and electronic audit of samples of ballot boxes in the provinces, the electoral commission will announce within the next few days some decisions about canceling the results in stations where fraud was found," said Abdul Hussein Hendawi, an elections official.

He said fraud had been discovered in the provinces of Baghdad, Irbil, Ninevah, Kirkuk, Anbar and Diyala.

Jenness said the number of complaints was less than one in every 7,000 voters. About 70 percent of Iraq's 15 million voters took part in the elections. He added that the U.N. saw no reason to hold a new ballot.

"Complaints must be adjudicated fairly, but we in the United Nations see no justification in calls for a rerun of any election," he said.

No election is perfect; but what took place in Iraq two weeks ago came close.

Just as in America, voter fraud must be weeded out.

Without question, tainted election results discredit the democratic process. I'm not diminishing the significance of problems in the Iraqi elections. Any fraud is a serious matter.

Nevertheless, the Iraqi voters should be proud of their blossoming democracy. They owe their precious freedom to the bravery and sacrifice of the U.S. military and the coalition partners.

It still disturbs me that these successful elections, this unquestionable triumph, received relatively little attention.

The New York Times managed to take the Iraqi elections off the national radar screen by timing its "domestic spying" splash to coincide with that stupendous news out of Iraq.

I guess it was too difficult for the Times to accept. Very slimy.

Business as usual at the New York Times...