US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3437

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003437 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, IZ, Elections, Electoral Commision 
SUBJECT: VOTER REGISTRATIONS SLOWLY INCREASING 
 
REF: A) BAGHDAD 3420 B) BAGHDAD 3319 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Robert Ford, for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
 (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  After a slow start, the Independent 
Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) on August 18 reported 
increased registration activity over the past few days, 
especially in Maysan, Diyala, Salah ad-Din, and Kirkuk 
provinces.  IECI expects registrations to increase during the 
remaining ten days of the August voter registration period. 
On August 21 Shia and Kurdist Kurdish negotiators made 
significant progress on electoral issues, and are poised to 
present an election law to the TNA based on a mixed system 
that features 230 seats allocated to governorates with 45 
nationwide compensatory seats.  Representatives from the 
Canadian, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, British, EU, 
Australian and US Embassies attended an August 18 donor 
meeting co-chaired by SRSG Qazi, but did not offer new 
funding commitments to fill a USD 107 million gap in the UN 
electoral cluster.  END SUMMARY. 
 
VOTER REGISTRATION 
------------------ 
 
2.  (C) On August 18, the IECI reported increased voter 
registrations over the past few days, especially in Maysan, 
Diyala, Salah ad-Din, and Kirkuk.  IECI said it expects 
registrations to increase during the remaining ten days of 
the voter registration period. 
 
-  REGISTRATION ACTIVITY.  As of August 17, IECI reported 
206,878 registration activities, with the overwhelming 
majority of applicants requesting to be added to the voter 
roll.  As of August 16, there were 18,122 requests to amend 
records and 2,119 requests to delete records. 
 
-  VOTER REGISTRATION CENTERS (VRCs).  During an August 17 
press conference, IECI Chairman Izadin stated that 523 VRCs 
are open and operating -- more than 95 percent of the total 
VRCs nationwide.  Due to security concerns, Izadin said a few 
VRCs remain unopened in Mosul, Tal Afar and Baghdad.  On 
August 21 UN electoral team leader David Avery said eight 
VRCs that recently opened in Al- Anbar under a "community" 
security arrangement are operating well without any security 
incidents thus far (Ref B).  IECI plans to add thee more VRCs 
in Al-Anbar next week. 
 
-  IECI CALLING CENTER.   As of August 18, the calling center 
had received 7,114 inquiries related to voter's registration 
status.  About 35 percent of callers are being directed to go 
to VRCs to register.  IECI admitted it has experienced 
intermittent technical problems with the calling center. 
 
-  PUBLIC OUTREACH.  IECI said registration nationwide media 
campaign is in full swing.  National infomercial spots are 
running in 17 TV outlets, including al--Arabia. 
Additionally, messages are going out on radio, newsprint and 
posters.  However, IECI admitted it has had problems 
circulating posters in Al-Anbar and Ninewa. 
 
ELECTORAL PREPARATIONS 
---------------------- 
 
3.  (C) On August 21 Shia and Kurdish negotiators made 
significant progress on electoral issues, and are poised to 
present an election law to the TNA based on a mixed system 
that features 230 seats allocated to governorates with 45 
nationwide compensatory seats.  Governorate seat allocations 
will be made by IECI using the voter register data.  The 
latest draft features provisions to protect minority 
religious parties and women,s participation as political 
candidates. 
 
-  CONTRACTS.  Tenders for ballot boxes, seals, voting 
screens, and printing of the referendum ballot paper have 
been released or are close to being released.  IECI said it 
intends to award some contracts to Iraqi suppliers.  Also, 
IECI is trying to confirm a reported Danish offer to donate 
ballot boxes. 
 
-  POLLING SITES.  As in the January election, IECI plans to 
have about 6,000 polling centers and up to 35,000 polling 
stations for the referendum and general election. 
 
-  IECI STAFFING.  The IECI Board of Commissioners dismissed 
the directors of the Baghdad West and Baghdad East 
Governorate Electoral Offices (GEO) for financial 
irregularities.  Their deputies were promoted to acting GEO 
directors.  With respect to polling workers, Commissioner 
Farid Ayar said that the IECI Board recently took a decision 
to request that 6,000 judges, lawyers and legal experts head 
polling centers nationwide. 
 
-  REFERENDUM LAW.  SRSG Qazi announced in an August 18 donor 
meeting that the referendum law has been published in the 
legal gazette without clarification of the Arabic term 
"nakabin" to mean "those who vote" instead of "those who are 
eligible to vote."  He speculated that perhaps the Supreme 
Court would clarify.  During the August 17 IECI press 
conference, Commissioner Farid Ayar clarified to the press 
that, with respect to the veto provision in the referendum 
law (if two-thirds of voters in three or more provinces 
reject the constitution) "voters  nakabin, mean those who 
actually vote." 
 
-  UN/IFES STAFFING.  Currently 14 UN and 12 IFES experts 
form the international electoral assistance team.  A security 
coordinator is expected to arrive Baghdad in the coming days. 
 The UN seat on the IECI board has remained vacant since 
March.  Geraldo LeChevalier, was expected to arrive in 
Baghdad by the end of July.  UN contacts in Baghdad report 
that LeChevalier,s transfer has been delayed due to his work 
with the UN Mission in Haiti. 
 
IECI DONOR CONFERENCE 
--------------------- 
 
4.  (C) SRSG Qazi co-chaired with IECI Chairman Izadin a 
meeting on August 18 to solicit funding from donor nation 
representatives in Baghdad.  Qazi asked for new funding to 
fill a USD 107 million gap in the UN electoral cluster 
funding mechanism -- more or less the same gap that existed 
prior to the March UN donor conference held in Jordan. 
Representatives from the Canadian, Italian, Portuguese, 
Japanese, British, EU, Australian and US Embassies attended, 
but did not offer new funding commitments. 
 
 
 
Khalilzad