Iraq - Tiny Percentage of Votes Thrown Out

It really grinds the AP to have to report good news from Iraq. So, they throw in some bad news, just so you don't forget. Look what they throw into paragraph two of this report.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's electoral commission said Monday that it is throwing out votes from 227 ballot boxes in last month's parliamentary elections because of fraud, a tiny percentage of the total vote that shouldn't greatly affect overall results. [Wait till you see the percentage, then ask why the "shouldn't" .ed]

The announcement came after a U.S. helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, but the fate of the two-man crew wasn't immediately known. A car bomb also killed six people and wounded 19 in the town of Muqdadiya.

Complaints by Sunni Arab and secular Shiite Muslim parties charging voting fraud and other irregularities have delayed announcement of final results from the Dec. 15 election, slowing negotiations on forming a new, broad-based coalition government.

Election officials annulled some of the boxes because fake ballots were used, said Hussein Hendawi, an official with the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq. The votes of about 53 boxes were annulled because too many votes were cast, he said.

Iraqis cast ballots at about 6,200 voting centers across the country Dec. 15, and there were an average of five ballot boxes at each. So 227 ballot boxes would be about two-thirds of 1 percent of the total vote, which was estimated at about 11 million ballots.

2/3 of 1% !!
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