(Adds electoral commission fines, quote) By Waleed Ibrahim BAGHDAD, Jan 30 (Reuters) - On the eve of Iraq's provincial polls, reports of attempts to buy votes and fears about fraud threaten to cast a shadow over an otherwise vibrant campaign that will test the country's growing security. The independent electoral commission said it had received very few complaints about attempts to garner votes with gifts, but the issue has become a talking point among Iraqis before Saturday's voting. In one Baghdad park this week, a leading Shi'ite Muslim party distributed blankets with a pamphlet inserted in the folds instructing would-be voters which candidates to choose. Other parties have doled out watches to win favour, and in one case, furnished a teenage football team with uniforms. The campaign events were all witnessed by Reuters correspondents. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki rejected media reports about attempted vote fraud. "We want to show the world our elections are transparent," he said. But the irregularities are blots on a campaign that has been far more spirited than Iraq's other elections since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein. Candidates previously feared for their lives, and hid their identities. More than 14,000 candidates are vying for 440 provincial council seats in 14 of 18 provinces. The election in Kirkuk province was postponed by a political dispute, while three Kurdish regions will vote later this year. A vehicle ban and curfew came into force early in the still violent northern city of Mosul, where al Qaeda has been active, and police and Iraqi troops have been deployed in the streets elsewhere as security was tightened ahead of the vote. The polls will test support for Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim, ahead of a parliamentary election later in the year. They may also help soothe some Sunni Arab grievances that are fuelling continuing violence in provinces like Nineveh, where Mosul is the capital, and Diyala, where Sunnis lack political power after boycotting the last election in 2005. For weeks, Iraq has been awash with colourful posters and banners and alive with the sounds of festive campaign rallies. WHO CAN WE TRUST? But some fear the apparently enthusiastic endorsement of democracy will inevitably be undermined by fraud. Mithal al-Alusi, a parliamentarian who heads a secular list of candidates, accused some parties of using state funds. "How can we trust those who are not trustworthy, those who believe they have the right to use the public funds?" he asked. Campaign rules prohibit the use of government resources, bar gifts to voters and restrict the use of religious symbols. Yet many such regulations have been flouted. Qassim al-Aboudi said the electoral commission on which he sits had fined three political lists for campaign violations, but he declined to identify them or their misdemeanours. "We received very few reports about attempts to buy votes and we will take action against these parties," he added. Furat al-Sheraa, a candidate in the southern city of Basra affiliated with the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a major Shi'ite party, said some candidates viewed winning votes as a commercial transaction. "I don't think it will work. It is a very dishonourable thing to try to buy votes," he said. ISCI, part of Maliki's coalition government, is locked in competition with his State of Law coalition in the south. There have been allegations of fraud in previous post-Saddam elections, but violence was the chief concern. Insurgent attack remain a worry this year despite a sharp drop in violence. A poll seen as illegitimate could spur new violence. Almost 300,000 local and international observers will monitor voting. (Writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Michael Christie)
A man places an Iraqi national flag over the coffin of the election candidate Omar Faruq al-Ani during a funeral at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in Baghdad January 30, 2009. ...
