This article, by Leila Fadel and Jamal Naji, was published by McClatchy's Washington Bureau, February 4, 2009
BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials moved to quell rising tensions between rival Sunni Muslim Arab factions in once-restive Anbar province Wednesday by recounting some of the ballots that were cast in last Saturday's provincial elections, even before the official results are known.
The Independent High Electoral Commission in Baghdad said it had acted after Sunni tribal leaders accused the province's ruling Iraqi Islamic Party of rigging the vote.
"The committee came in today to investigate the allegations of forgery," said Aqeel al Mashhadani, the spokesman for the Independent High Electoral Commission in Anbar province. "They recounted several boxes today."
Many signs of voting fraud were reported. Poll workers at five centers told McClatchy that they saw Iraqi Islamic Party loyalists filling out blank ballots for registered voters who didn't show and stuffing the ballot box. In one case, a poll worker said he was asked to fill out the ballots himself.
In another, a polling center employee said that he was ordered to leave at the end of the day so that party loyalists could fill in the ballots of voters who didn't show up.
The formal accusations of vote rigging came from Ahmed Abu Risha and other tribal leaders. Abu Risha — the Anbar head of a political movement, Iraq's Awakening Council, that grew out of a tribal group formed to battle militants — is widely credited with pacifying the province that was once a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency and al Qaida in Iraq.
At a news conference Wednesday at his compound, Abu Risha brandished polling-result forms that he charged had been altered and demanded that fraudulent counts be disallowed.
"We will not fight with weapons; we will fight with these documents," he said.
The city of Ramadi, at one time a killing field for U.S. soldiers who patrolled the hostile streets and deadly for residents, now is relatively calm. If Saturday's elections aren't considered credible, however, that could ignite a new round of violence.
Nearly all residents of the Sunni Arab province boycotted national elections in 2005, denouncing what they said was an illegitimate vote held under U.S. occupation, and many joined the armed resistance against a foreign army on their soil. Saturday's provincial elections were the first in which they'd participated.
Tribal leaders such as Abu Risha now think that they're entitled to political representation in view of the sacrifices they made to cleanse the province of al Qaida in Iraq and other militants. His brother, the former head of the movement, was killed.
However, the Iraqi Islamic Party, which took power in the province by default because it was the only Sunni Arab group that participated in the 2005 election, also thinks that it took big risks for a democratic outcome. The party, which has ruled the province since then with a governor appointed by the provincial council, has little popular standing with many Sunnis, who consider it unrepresentative, corrupt and linked to violent groups.
Complaints about the election have been gathering force since Monday, when tribal gunmen took to the streets in what security officials said was a protest of fraudulent voting results. Security officials imposed a curfew.
Abu Risha said Wednesday, however, that the gunmen weren't protesting but celebrating what they thought was a win for their movement.
Saleh al Mutlaq, the head of another Sunni party, the Gathering of the Iraqi National Projects, said in an interview after returning from Anbar province that tribal leaders were outraged at the idea that the Iraqi Islamic Party would continue to govern there.
"Unless the electoral commission treats the complaints fairly, conflict is coming to Anbar," he said. "They cheated, and the tribal leaders will not allow them to govern them."
Security officials in Anbar braced for possible violence.
"We will not allow the province to return to square one," said Gen. Tariq Yousef, Anbar's police chief. "We will not be merciful. We will not be merciful with those who violate the law no matter who they are."
The poll workers who told McClatchy that they'd witnessed fraudulent voting all spoke on the condition of anonymity, afraid of retaliation.
One employee said he was forced to enter votes on ballots for the party by the head of the center, a party loyalist.
"The news is bad," he recalled the official telling him, referring to the party's number of voters. The official said he'd watch for observers so the man wouldn't get caught.
The man said he told the official that he was afraid, and the head of the center responded with one remark.
"They need to send complaints, and this can only be sent through me," he said. "Don't be afraid."
A request for a response to the accusations e-mailed to the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Tareq al Hashemi, who's also one of Iraq's vice presidents, wasn't answered Wednesday.
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