Iraq Electoral Division to Audit Results

[boise1]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Election workers will audit results showing unexpected ratios of "yes" to "no" votes from some parts of Iraq in the country's landmark referendum on the draft constitution, officials said Monday.

The U.S. military said, meanwhile, that its warplanes and helicopters bombed two western villages Sunday, killing an estimated 70 militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a roadside blast. Residents said at least 39 of the dead were civilians.

Word of the unexpected results came as Sunni Arab lawmaker Meshaan al-Jubouri claimed fraud had occurred in Saturday's election — including instances of voting in hotly contested regions by pro-constitution Shiites from other areas — repeating earlier comments made by other Sunni officials over the weekend.

Iraq's Electoral Commission said numbers from most provinces "were unusually high according to the international standards" and so would "require us to recheck, compare and audit them."

- What would Kenneth Blackwell do??