By Martin Banks - 16th March 2010
I was very unhappy with the decision not to allow me to go to observe the elections
Struan Stevenson
British MEP Struan Stevenson says he has uncovered a "large dossier" of alleged irregularities in Iraq's general election.
The ECR deputy sought permission to travel to Iraq as an election observer but was refused by parliament's group leaders (conference of presidents) on security grounds.
Instead, he published an email address to which anyone with comments about the election could post messages.
He told this website on Tuesday he has since been "inundated" with complaints of alleged election fraud.
The MEP, who leads parliament's Iraq delegation, said there was evidence of vote tampering which favoured Prime Minister Nouri Maliki at the expense of his main rival, Iyad Allawi.
Stevenson said he will present the dossier to a meeting of the delegation in parliament on Wednesday.
The Scottish MEP said the dossier contains allegations of fraud, both before and after the ballot on 7 March.
He said, "The steady flow of allegations has become a flood. I received first-hand accounts of countless blank ballots being filled in primarily to benefit the State of Law coalition (Nouri Al-Maliki) list in Sadr City in Baghdad, particularly in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhoods of Al-Adhamia, Zeyoona, Al-Fadhl, Share'a Felestin and Al-Selekh.
"In many cases thousands of ballot papers were marked with a second tick to render them invalid. One report stated that many thousands of ballot papers marked in favour of Iraqiya list (Ayad Allawi) had been discovered on a Baghdad rubbish dump.
"Also scores of military personnel were prevented from voting because their names did not appear on any register."
Stevenson's litany of complaints continues in other provinces, with allegations of voter intimidation in Diyala and elsewhere.
He said, "I was very unhappy with the decision not to allow me to go to observe the elections but these series of complaints have a strange similarity in that they all come from supporters of the opposition parties in Iraq.
"It is hard to verify their accuracy, of course, but if there has been fraud it should be properly investigated."
Full results are expected on 18 March after which time will be allowed for appeals against inconsistencies.
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