Press release by Struan Stevenson, President of Delegation for relations with Iraq at the European Parliament
There are increasing fears that widespread attempts are underway inside Iraq to rig next weekend's ballot in the parliamentary elections. The finger of suspicion is pointing firmly at Iran, with accusations that its agents are deeply involved in plots to undermine the vote and are throwing major resources, financial and otherwise, into ensuring that their own pro-Iranian candidates emerge victorious.
Expressing his fears today in Brussels, Struan Stevenson MEP, President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq said:
"I have had a series of deeply worrying phone calls and emails from senior political figures in Iraq which have confirmed my worst fears. There are reports of the Iranians sending hundreds of millions of dollars to various parts of Iraq to buy people’s votes. I have also been told that lorries carrying stuffed ballot boxes from Iran are being slipped across the border to Iraq. This is all happening on top of the recent scandalous expulsion of more than 500 secular, anti-sectarian candidates from the election, including some senior party leaders such as Dr Saleh Al-Mutlaq and Dr Dhafer Al-Ani, on trumped up charges that they were somehow sympathetic to the former Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein. In fact, the only thing the expelled candidates have in common is their vigorous opposition to Iranian meddling in Iraq's internal affairs.
"I have immediately brought this matter to the attention of Baroness Ashton, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs. With the clear objective of having a free, fair and fully democratic election in Iraq, I also wish to make the following points clear to the Iraqi authorities:
• The EU, as major funders of the reconstruction of Iraq, will not tolerate a fraudulent election similar to the deceitful farce which took place last June in Iran;
• I am therefore relying on all independent and democratic forces in Iraqi to be on alert for and to prevent any attempts at election fraud;
• I call on the United States and the EU to monitor the elections carefully and to expose all instances of foreign meddling in the poll;
• I also call on all Iraqi political parties, personalities, candidates and general public to pass reports and documents related to election fraud to this email:
[email protected]
I urge all those who send their reports to me at the above email address to mention the location, time and details of the instances of fraud and give their names if possible and attach any documents that may be available and pertinent.
Struan Stevenson, MEP
President, Delegation for relations with Iraq
The European Parliament
