Days after calls for a recount in Iraq, warehouse housing half the ballots burns down.

The warehouse containing half of the election ballots in Iraq burns. Reuters. 

Just days after Iraq's parliament called for a recount of last months elections the warehouse containing half of the ballots has burned down. Reuters. The election results were already in question due to widespread allegations of fraud. Workers were able to save most or all of the ballots, though that hasn't stopped calls for new elections. Iraqi Prime Minster Haider al-Abadi implied the fire was not an accident and said that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. The recount could harm Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a long time foe of the United States and Iranian ally, who's party came in 1st during the election. 

My Comment:

And I thought American elections were messy! This seems like a very obvious attempt either to cover up election fraud or nullify the results of the election. Either way it's clear that the last election was a joke and that there probably should be new elections in Iraq. 

No matter who is responsible, this is a pretty clear attack on Democracy itself. No matter what was going to happen with the recount, none of the results can be trusted as well. Even if the government is right and there weren't any ballots destroyed or damaged, it seems very unlikely that anyone could trust their word about it. There will always be doubt that some ballots were destroyed. And if there was election fraud people won't believe it wasn't planted during the fire. 

So who is responsible? I am not sure but I think it's very clear that whatever happened was due to Iran, indirectly. With Moqtada al-Sadr's party winning the election it was clear that Iraq was going to be on a very different path. 

I certainly think that Moqtada al-Sadr and his Iranian backers are possibly responsible. They had a lot to gain from having a puppet government in Iraq especially a Shiite one. Iraq would be a proxy state for Iran if al-Sadr's party came into power. This would counter Saudi influences in the region and would secure Iran's supply lines into Syria where they are threatening war with Israel. 

Of course that means that everyone else in the region, including the United States, Israel and the Saudis, have a motive to tamper with the elections as well. I'd like to think that the United States wouldn't do so but that strikes me as naive. My guess is was a local power or even the Iraqi government itself if it wasn't the Shiite militias, but we really can't rule out anyone. There is just too much at stake. 

A history lesson might be in order. Before current government, Iraq was ruled by Shiites and were fairly discriminatory towards Sunni Muslims. This meant when ISIS arrived in Iraq the Sunni Muslims welcomed them with open arms. Trying to avoid that outcome again may have been what motivated an election tampering. 

All that being said, I am guessing that there will be new elections in Iraq. Any recount now will be tainted and I doubt anyone will trust them. The only way to have a government with any kind of respect is to hold new elections.