US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3017

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2015 
TAGS: PINS, PTER, PGOV, PREL, KDEM, IZ, Elections, Electoral Commision 
SUBJECT: FOUR IECI EMPLOYEES KILLED IN A TARGETED ATTACK; 
SLOW PROGRESS ON VOTER REGISTRATION PREPARATIONS 
 
Classified By: Charge d' Affaires David M. Satterfield for Reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary.  The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq 
(IECI) has confirmed that four employees were killed on July 
17 as a result of a car-bomb attack on the East Baghdad 
Governorate office.  Although IECI has made little progress 
in signing a logistics contract and launching a media/public 
outreach campaign, IECI remains confident that registration 
will start on or before August 7.  IECI plans to open 15 
Voter Registration Centers (VRCs) in Anbar (in Falluja and 
Ramadi) and 55 VRCs in Ninewa, and has formally requested 
close security support from MNF-I.  The TNA will likely pass 
the referendum law on July 24.  End Summary. 
 
IECI OFFICE CAR-BOMBED 
---------------------- 
 
2. (C) The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) 
has confirmed that a July 17 car-bomb attack on the East 
Baghdad Governorate office killed two IECI staffers and two 
security guards.  Additionally, four IECI employees were 
wounded, two critically, said IECI Director of Operations Dr. 
Ali Abid Al-Elah.  He told PolOff on July 18 that there had 
not been any threats against IECI employees since the January 
election, and he remains optimistic that IECI employees will 
not be intimidated by this incident. (In the run up to the 
January 2005 election, three IECI workers were killed in an 
attack on the West Baghdad Governorate office on December 7, 
and another three IECI staffers were dragged from their car 
and killed on Haifa street on December 19.  To their credit, 
IECI staffers did not resign following the attacks.) 
 
ELECTORAL PREPARATIONS 
---------------------- 
 
3. (C) Despite making little progress in signing a logistics 
contract and launching a media/public outreach campaign, IECI 
continues to maintain confidence that registration will start 
on or before August 7. 
 
- LOGISTICS.  The Board of Commissioners has selected 
National Air Cargo for the USD 8 million logistics contract 
for the delivery of voter lists, registration forms, and 
other materials.  Director of Operations Dr. Ali said that 
the Board is waiting for National Air Cargo to present a 
final contract agreement to IECI to sign.  He said overseas 
printing of blank registration forms and voter lists are on 
schedule and should be ready before July 21. 
 
- PUBLIC OUTREACH.  The media/public outreach section of IECI 
is far from ready, however, to begin a campaign informing and 
encouraging Iraqis to participate in the voter registration 
update program.  Recently, several senior administrators and 
commissioners could not predict when the first TV ads would 
run, and instead openly criticized their media section for 
being unprepared.  A robust media campaign was to have 
started two weeks before the start of voter registration in 
August.  A United Nations media expert here on a one-week TDY 
has been advising the Iraqi media staff to prepare the launch. 
 
- VRCs.  About 550 Voter Registration Center (VRC) locations 
have been identified, and security plans are being developed 
and coordinated among IECI, MOI, MOD and MNF-I.  Dr. Ali said 
IECI plans to open 15 VRCs in Anbar (in Falluja and Ramadi) 
and 55 VRCs in Ninewa, and formally asked MNF-I for close 
security support.  He said IECI will not open VRCs near the 
Anbar border area near Syria because of fighting there; to 
mitigate the security risk, the Anbar VRCs will be located as 
close as possible to existing military checkpoints. 
 
- REGISTRATION MONITORS.  IECI plans to accredit observers 
and political party agents for the August registration.  The 
National Democratic Institute (NDI) sponsored Coalition of 
Non-Partisan Election Monitors (CINEM) - a group of 100 or so 
Iraqi NGOs that observed the January election - said it is 
ready to monitor the next election.  NDI advisor Jabouri told 
PolOff that CINEM is better positioned now as a NGO 
monitoring network than it was in during the January 
elections because it has actively purged non-performing NGOs 
and added new NGOs, including some from Anbar. 
 
- REFERENDUM LAW.  The TNA will vote on the referendum law on 
July 24.  TNA Legal Committee Chairman Mushen Saadoon said he 
expects the law to pass without problems. 
 
- UN STAFFING.  After a four-month absence of UN electoral 
assistance leadership, the new team leader David Avery is 
expected to arrive in Baghdad on July 24, and the new UN IECI 
Commissioner Gerardo Chevalier is expected on July 27. 
Together with the UN liaison official to the IECI Jan 
Malekzade, who is on the ground, they will lead the group of 
international electoral experts assisting the IECI. 
 
OUTREACH BY SUNNIS 
------------------ 
 
4. (C) CEO Allami told PolOff that Sunni leader Adnan 
Dulaimey approached the Anbar Governorate Office to encourage 
it to open voter registration centers in Anbar.  One idea 
Dulaimey proposed is to allow VRCs to be located in mosques. 
IECI is likely to reject this idea since the lines of 
responsibility in using, controlling and protecting mosques 
as VRCs would be difficult and unclear.  (Comment.  Not 
having voted in the January elections, Dulaimey's active 
interest in opening VRCs is a positive indicator that Sunnis 
in Anbar are determined to participate in the electoral 
process.  End comment.) 
 
5. (U) REO HILLAH, REO BASRAH, REO MOSUL, and REO 
KIRKUK, minimize considered. 
Satterfield