What Iraqi Elections?

[Warren Stupidity]

Is it just me, or have the Iraq elections gone into limbo? What is the excuse at this point for the fact that it is now 2/11/05, eleven days since the election ended, and there are still no results, not even a count of the number of ballots?

Sniff sniff sniff. I smell corruption.

[fasttense]

1. It was on CNN yesterday, there are accusations of election fraud

No, seriously there really are accusations of election fraud in Iraq. They had to recount several boxes and some voting ballots were thrown out. B*sh can't run a fair election even when he wants to.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. that story has been recirculated

since wednesday in various forms in various articles. Supposedly 300 ballot boxes needed to be recounted. OK. That should take one day, tops. That would take us to thursday. (Actually it would take us to wednesday, but I am stretching credulity here.) Today is friday.

This is bullshit.

They aren't going to release the results until the deal for the top posts is 'baked in'.

[Roland99]

7. They have to buy some time to shoehorn a US puppet into power

[FreedomAngel82]

14. I bet you it's Allawi

[Roland99]

16. Signs are pointing back that way.

And the Iraqis hold him in such high regard, too.

:eyes: :eyes:

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. Funny how he said in the beginning that he wasn't interested in the

permanent position. :eyes:

[Ganja Ninja]

4. More like ...

allegations of fraud because the results didn't meet with the approval of the Bush regime. Now they want to throw it out after their guy didn't win. Welcome to Democracy Bush style.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. That's the suspicion

Unfortunately for Mr. Bush and the neocons, recounting the votes to favor Allawi's Iraqi List would have no credibility. Allawi lost in every part of the country among all ethnic groups. He got only about 13% of the vote, according to the last count, while the United Iraqi Alliance (the Sistani slate) got over 50% and the Kurdish nationalist slate got about 25%. No amount of vote rigging could account for that. Bush's water boy was repudiated.

What will the Shias do if it looks like Bush is trying to steal the election from them? You don't want to know.

[Ganja Ninja]

12. It's too late to rig the count but they could try to declare it ...

tainted and try to throw it away. They may be sorry they pulled that purple finger stunt at the SOTU the other night.

[LinuxInsurgent]

8. oh god...

those iraqis don't play with the election fraud shit...they WILL rebel!

Is Bush TRYING to have everything break into civil war?

[whistle]

2. I smell cover-up....

....I smell Negroponte's sh*t being dumped all over the election. I smell puppet strings and puppet paint. I smell death.

[hatrack]

5. All I smell lately is burning gasoline & melting vinyl from car bombs

Oh, and I just wonder if Negroponte and the other military LBO specialists are thinking, even THINKING about rigging something to keep the Shiites out of power.

If so, they're even more stupid and ideological and delusional than we all thought.

[Rush1184]

6. I smell that too...

only it is coming from the ballot storage building.

[gratuitous]

9. Oh let it go already!

The Iraqi elections are just so, so, you know, pre-State of the Union! We got the photo op, now just move on and quit dwelling on the past. Why do you insist on remembering things that don't need to be remembered? Do you hate freedom and liberty that much? You liberal?

[Vermonster]

11. Perhaps it's just taking longer

...because this is the first real election they've ever had and they've run into some logistical snafus?

Don't forget also, the U.N. played a major role in setting up and organizing the election... there are feet on the ground that would be able to tell if there was anything shady going on.

:tinfoilhat:

[FreedomAngel82]

15. I was hearing on AAR

a guy called in to one of the programs who worked the polls there. I can't remember what show it was. I think it was the "Majority Report" but the person was praising Bush for democracy and everything was so beautiful and great. Now this comes out. :shrug:

[Warren Stupidity]

18. uh, no

The ballot boxes were all collected Jan 31. There are no logistical problems in COUNTING ballots other than collecting the ballots, which no report I know of suggests was a problem. There were logistical problems conducting that vote, but that was now 12 days ago.

So another poster provides a link which says that the delay is 150,000 uncounted ballots.

So lets assume that they've had three days, (which is generous as I think it is more like since last sunday that the 'ballot counting problem' has been floating around as the excuse for no results), to count these 150,000 ballots. Further, lets give them 100 ballot counters.

150000 = number of reported uncounted ballots
144000 = 60 minutes * 8 hours * three days * 100 counters
============
1.04 minutes per ballot.

Those are the slowest ballot counters on the planet.

[FreedomAngel82]

13. It is strange

I haven't heard a peep. I do remember hearing on AAR they were crying foul to the outcome. Go figure. :grr: What if they elect someone who the Iraqi's didn't vote for and for somehow they find out nobody voted for the person? What would they do?

[Generator]

17. You got my curiousity going so

Here's the first link I came to:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2002175980_iraq10.html

Thursday, February 10, 2005, 12:00 A.M.
Election outcome delayed in Iraq

By Tom Lasseter
Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi election officials yesterday delayed announcing the official results of the Jan. 30 elections by several days to allow a recount of some 150,000 votes and to sort through thousands more that won't be counted because of irregularities.


Also, a wave of kidnappings and assassinations, which had tapered off in the days after the elections, surged again yesterday, reinforcing fears that the elections, in which millions of voters risked their lives to cast ballots, hadn't impeded the insurgency.

snip

150,000 votes! and more than won't be counted because of irregularities.

Edited: It says ballot stuffing and the numbers don't match.

Also:
"It's impossible to gauge the potential effect of uncounted votes or ballots slated for recount because voting officials haven't said how many Iraqis voted and haven't released totals from Baghdad, Basra or Mosul, the country's largest cities."

[Jack Rabbit]

20. More discussion on the Iraqi elections

On the long thread in foreign affairs.

This venerable thread, anchored by a piece title Why the left was wrong is 14 months old and approaching 400 posts.

The discussion on the recent election begins toward the bottom of the thread.