Fire engulfs warehouse storing Iraq election ballots
It was not clear what effect it will have on election results.
BAGHDAD — A fire engulfed a depot on Sunday where ballots from Iraq’s national elections were being stored ahead of a f ull 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 fire- fighters at the scene in the Rasafa district of Baghdad.
The warehouses contained figures from influential Shiballots from the largest votite militias placed second ing district in the capital. with 47 seats.
It was not immediately Iraq’s prime minister, clear how the damage would Haider al-Abadi, whose ticket affect the results of the elec- had placed third in the May tion, which have been called 12th election, approved the into question amid persistent move for the recount by the claims of significant irregulawmakers saying the eleclarities and mismanagement. tion commission was to
Salim al-Jubouri, the outblame for what he described going speaker of parliament, as widespread irregularities. who lost his seat in the elecBefore the parliament had tion, called for an entire re-do acted the electoral commisof the vote because of the fire. sion said it was voiding 1,021
The fire broke out on the ballot boxes from around the same day a panel of judges country, along with votes had been formed to officast by Iraqis abroad and cially take over the election Iraqis still living in displacerecount from the ostensibly ment camps that were set up autonomous Independent during the battles against High Electoral Commission, the Islamic State. the body that administered The com m ission did the vote and had since come not say why it was nulliunder intense criticism for fying those votes or detail its performance. any of the discrepancies it
Last week, Iraq’s parlia- had apparently discovered, ment voted to dismiss the fueling suspicion by voters commissioners and replace and political parties over its them with judges while calladministration of the tightly ing for a full hand recount contested election. of the approximately 11 milIn the days after the eleclion votes. Some parties con- tion, reports of fraud began demned the measure, sayto emerge primarily from Mariing it was spearheaded by the Kurdish region of northlyn Monroe’s rear is getting groups of lawmakers who ern Iraq while voters nation- some leers in Connecticut. had lost their seats. wide complained about difA 26-foot statue of the
A ticket backed by the Shificulties using the electronic actress has been placed ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a voting machines that were in a Stamford park across long-time opponent of Amer- being used for the first time. the street from a church, ican influence in Iraq, won The United Nations had which is getting a full view the most seats in the initial expressed concern over the of her behind. It depicts the count, with 54 out of 329 — allegations and urged the famous scene from 1955’s placing him in prime posi- electoral commission to con“The Seven Year Itch” tion to select the nation’s duct a speedy and transpar- where Monroe holds down next leader. A coalition of ent investigation. her white dress as air blows up from a subway grate.
The back of the statue showing her underwear is clearly visible from the front of the First Congregational Church of Stamford. Some passers-by this week said it was disrespectful to the church.
Most church members had not yet seen the statue because it was put up Mon-