International Team Affirms Fraud

The final report issued by the international team scrutinizing the (December parliamentary) election results stated that fraud and violations occurred. The report noted that it was impossible to check some (reported) violations because of the current security situation. The report mentioned that there were a shortage of ballots (at some polling stations); ballots were randomly distributed at (some) electoral centres; and there were problems with voter lists. Other than these violations, the team did not find evidence that the violations would affect the election results. The report indicated that the Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq did not have enough staff or resources to investigate the widespread complaints.