NEWS: UN Reports Irregularities in Iraq Elections, page 1

posted on Mar, 28 2005 @ 03:46 PM

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A UN report scrutinizing the conformity of the iraqi elections with international democratic standards found heavy irregularities within the election process. Absence of campaign financing regulation as well as insufficient advertisement time for the more than 7.000 candidates question the election's legitimacy.

www.islamonline.org
Two months after an election described as “historic,” a new United Nations report revealed irregularities in the legislative election process.

The report, quoted by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said the election was far from being competitive, Reuters news agency reported Sunday, March 27.

Money also played a key role in the election with the absence of regulations on the sources of campaign funds.

The UN report also criticized election officials for failing to put a ceiling on spending, a matter that did injustice to some cash-strapped candidates.

Election officials, it added, have not taken concrete steps to guarantee accountability and transparency in the spending process.

The document further said that candidates were not given enough time to market their platforms or even to introduce themselves to the voters.

Iraqi pundits had said that most of the voters were left in the dark as they knew nothing about the more than 7,000 candidates.

They said that empty rhetoric and sloganeering were the pivots of campaigning, ignoring the people’s social woes like the towering unemployment, insecurity and US-led occupation.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

As the UN report points out, Bush's democracy for Iraq seems to be a lame attempt at installing a corrupt pseudo-democracy. Did the hundreds of thousands of victims die for a banana republic ?

[edit on 28-3-2005 by krotzkrotz]

MaskedAvatar

posted on Mar, 28 2005 @ 03:56 PM

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Were there more than 4000 candidates or more than 7000 candidates? I wonder how they could all advertise themselves fairly and equitably?

Perhaps the UN should have made this call on the 2004 US election, where it would have been timely and accurate.

But at least in Iraq, the argument is about which of the puppets becomes engineered as the electoral victor, and not about voter disenfranchisement and corruptible voting machines and archaic laws governing what actually happens when your votes are discounted and destroyed. Or maybe, that stuff has just not been examined in depth for Iraq yet.

Democracy is dead in the US and wherever it invades.

[edit on 28-3-2005 by MaskedAvatar]

phreak_of_nature

posted on Mar, 28 2005 @ 04:00 PM

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Interesting source.
I have to say that I would be dubious of an site that offers a shariah corner, and a live fatwa.

www.islamonline.org...

MaskedAvatar

posted on Mar, 28 2005 @ 04:15 PM

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In case you hadn't noticed, the source is the United Nations as quoted by the Electoral Commission of Iraq and reported by Reuters.

On the basis that you reject news, you should also reject anything from AAP/Reuters that is quoted by a Christian or Hindu site as well.

[edit on 28-3-2005 by MaskedAvatar]

namehere

posted on Mar, 28 2005 @ 08:20 PM

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if the UN didnt notice, iraq isnt a western nation nor is it as rich and its a warzone, they cant seriously expect the same standards to even be possible, can they?

stumason

posted on Mar, 28 2005 @ 08:44 PM

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if the UN didnt notice, iraq isnt a western nation nor is it as rich and its a warzone, they cant seriously expect the same standards to even be possible, can they?

If the US didn't notice Iraq isnt a Western nation, nor is it as rich and its a warzone, they cant seriously expect to hold fair elections, can they?

marg6043

posted on Mar, 28 2005 @ 08:53 PM

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Good article, I only can add that taking in consideration the hasty nature of the Iraqi elections, for the US administration to be able to claim victory on the democratic process in that nation, well not body cares if they were fair or not.

But we know something for sure, we had plenty of coverage of the free elections in Iraq.