US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA289

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000289 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, SOCI, KDEM, IZ, CA, International Organization for Migration 
SUBJECT: CANADA: IRAQ OUT-OF-COUNTRY VOTING COMMENCES 
 
REF: A. CALGARY 21 
 
     B. OTTAWA 222 
     C. TORONTO 140 
 
1.  Canada is one of 14 countries designated by the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) to host 
polling sites for Iraqi citizens to participate in the 
January 30th election of a transitional National Assembly. 
As the 3-day window (January 28-30) for out-of-country voting 
opens at five locations in Canada (1 each in Ottawa and 
Calgary, 3 in Toronto), 10,957 Iraq citizens had registered 
to vote in this country, as reported in IOM's website. 
 
2.  Sheena Thomson, who heads IOM's Toronto office, advised 
Toronto poloff that approximately 45-50 percent of eligible 
Iraqi citizens in Canada had registered to vote, countering 
news reports that only 25 percent of Iraqis living in Canada 
had registered.  However, this was significantly lower than 
the roughly 80 percent turnout that IOM officials had been 
forecasting for Canada.  Similarly, IOM officials in Ottawa 
advised Ottawa poloff that the number of Iraqis citizens 
living in the Montreal area who traveled to Ottawa to 
register was lower than what IOM had been anticipating. 
 
3. In explaining the lower-than-anticipated turnout, Thomson 
indicated in press interviews that poor weather in the 
Toronto area (home to most of the Iraqi expatriate population 
in Canada) might have suppressed the participation rate in 
the Iraqi community.  In addition, Iraqi citizens living in 
the Windsor area were expected to register and vote in 
Detroit, which might have lowered the overall registration 
rate in Canada. 
 
4.  COMMENT.  IOM's decision to add an additional two days 
(January 24-25) to the original 7-day registration period 
(January 17-23) in each of the 14 countries seemed to have 
relatively little impact in Canada, based on an analysis of 
the day-by-day registration figures provided by IOM.  In 
particular, the daily volume of registration recorded in 
Ottawa during the supplemental period was significantly lower 
than the daily volume counts in the original registration 
period; Calgary and Toronto likewise had lower daily volume 
of registrations, compared to the original period, albeit at 
less significant drop-offs.  Nevertheless, IOM officials in 
all three cities told poloffs that the registration process 
went smoothly, and they anticipate that no particular 
problems will occur during the polling period.  END COMMENT. 
 
5.  Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
DICKSON