Iraq readies report on voting fraud

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's election commission will announce results of its investigation into allegations of voting fraud today, officials said, while the tribunal overseeing Saddam Hussein's trial confirmed the chief judge has asked to resign.

The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq has examined the 50 or so serious complaints of voter fraud lodged after the Dec. 15 election, Safwat Rashid, an official with the panel, said yesterday.

About 2,000 complaints were filed overall, but the commission said only 50 had the potential to change vote totals.

The governing United Iraqi Alliance, a Shi'ite religious bloc, has a strong lead, according to preliminary results. But it won't win enough seats in the 275- member parliament to avoid forming a coalition with Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties.

Final election results have been delayed by Sunni Arab complaints of fraud. Although leading politicians have expressed hopes a government could be formed in February, most specialists and officials agree it could take two to three months, as it did after the January 2005 elections for an interim government.

The commission hasn't worked through the other 1,930 or so complaints, another elections official said. Those less serious charges wouldn't change any vote totals but could result in fines, he said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

The international team assessing the commission's handling of the voting process also said it would release its final report on Thursday. The commission is expected to release uncertified final results shortly after that, perhaps as soon as this coming weekend.

The tribunal overseeing the Hussein case said Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin submitted his resignation for ''personal reasons" and not because of government pressure. It said the trial of Hussein and seven codefendants would reconvene as scheduled Jan. 24 despite the uncertainties surrounding Amin.

Amin submitted his resignation after becoming fed up with criticism that he had let the proceedings against the ousted leader spin out of control, a court official told AP on Saturday.

A member of the five-judge panel headed by Amin told the Associated Press that the tribunal was still considering whether to appoint another judge to take Amin's place. He said officials had asked Amin to reconsider.

Hussein has often grabbed the spotlight during the nearly three-month-old trial. He has railed at Amin, refused to show up at one session, claimed he was tortured, and openly prayed in court when the judge would not allow a recess.

The former leader and his codefendants are charged in the deaths of more than 140 Shi'ite Muslims from the town of Dujail who were killed in retaliation for a 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein.

Conviction could bring a sentence of death by hanging.

The chief prosecutor in Hussein's trial, Jaafar al-Mousawi, told AP that if Amin's resignation is accepted, a judge on the panel would replace him as chief and another judge would be appointed.

Amin would be the second judge to step down in the case. Another member of the panel removed himself in late November because one of the codefendants may have been involved in the execution of his brother. That judge was replaced.

In other developments yesterday, according to police:

Gunmen in Baghdad killed five civilians, two police, and a former Iraqi army officer in separate incidents.

The body of a criminal intelligence officer who was abducted Saturday was found in Basra.