Fire engulfs warehouse storing Iraq election ballots

BAGHDAD – A fire engulfed a depot on Sunday where ballots from Iraq’s national elections were being stored ahead of a full manual recount, the latest setback for a process that had already been mired in accusations of fraud and other violations.

The blaze sent black plumes that could be seen for miles around the capital. There were fears that the destruction of ballots further risks the legitimacy of last month’s election, which saw a major shift in Iraq’s political order.

Saad Maan, a spokesman for Iraq’s interior ministry, said the fire had broken out in a warehouse where electronic voting machines and some ballot boxes were stored. He said it was one of four storage facilities for ballots on the site, belonging to Iraq’s ministry of trade, and that the three depots with the majority of returns had been spared.

The cause of the fire is unknown, he said, and will be investigated once the blaze is contained by the nine teams of firefighters at the scene in the Rasafa district of Baghdad.

The warehouses contained ballots from the largest voting district in the capital.

It was not immediately clear how the damage would affect the results of the election, which have been called into question amid persistent claims of significant irregularities and mismanagement.

Salim al-jubouri, the outgoing speaker of parliament, who lost his seat in the election, called for an entire re-do of the vote because of the fire.

The fire broke out on the same day a panel of judges had been formed to officially take over the election recount from the ostensibly autonomous Independent High Electoral Commission, the body that administered the vote and had since come under intense criticism for its performance.

Last week, Iraq’s parliament voted to dismiss the commissioners and replace them with judges while calling for a full hand recount of the approximately 11 million votes. Some parties condemned the measure, saying it was spearheaded by groups of lawmakers who had lost their seats.

A ticket backed by the Shiite cleric Moqtada alsadr, a long-time opponent of American influence in Iraq, won the most seats in the initial count, with 54 out of 329 – placing him in prime position to select the nation’s next leader. A coalition of figures from influential Shiite militias placed second with 47 seats.