US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3648

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003648 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KDEM, IZ, Electoral Commision 
SUBJECT: IECI CHAIRMAN AND ANBAR GOVERNOR MEET IN RAMADI 
 
Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Michael Adler, 
for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq 
(IECI) Board Chairman Izadin traveled to Ramadi August 30 to 
meet with Arab Sunni leaders, including Anbar Governor Mamoon 
and Provincial Council Chairman Khadir. Izadin told local 
Sunni Arab leaders that IECI had decided to extend the Anbar 
voter registration period by one week.  Regarding Mamoon's 
suggestion for use of mosques as polling sites, Izadin 
replied that the use of holy places is against international 
electoral practice, and IECI preferred schools as polling 
sites because they are free from religious and political 
associations.  Izadin agreed to provide Brigadier General 
Williams, Assistant Division Commander, Second Marine 
Division, the latest locations of "community protected" 
registration sites in Anbar so that Marine patrols can 
preclude targeting legitimate voter registration centers in 
the fight against the insurgency.  Izadin also agreed to 
provide future polling site locations.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Embassy Baghdad and the Second Marine Division 
facilitated an August 30 outreach mission to Ramadi led by 
IECI Board Chairman Izadin to meet with Arab Sunni leaders, 
including Anbar governor Mamoon and Provincial Council 
chairman Khadir.  Poloffs and USAID deputy director for 
democracy and governance accompanied and were met in Ramadi 
by Brigadier General Williams. 
 
3. (C) Mamoon pressed Izadin for an extension in the voter 
registration period for Anbar, same-day registration and 
polling, and use of mosques as polling sites.  Mammon said 
that recent Friday prayer messages have been filled with 
calls for full Sunni participation in the political process. 
He said neighborhood people would protect the mosques, if 
used as polling sites.  Also, noting that the October 15 
Referendum will take place during the month of Ramadan, 
Mammon asked Izadin to take daytime fasting into account when 
establishing polling site hours of operations. 
 
4. (C) Izadin replied that IECI had decided to extend the 
voter registration period by one week for Anbar province.  He 
said requests for extensions in other governorates were 
considered but denied, and stressed that further extensions 
in Anbar would not be possible because it would jeopardize 
the tight electoral timeline and pose considerable risk to 
completing electoral preparations on time by October 15. 
Izadin explained that same-day registration and voting is 
considered a poor electoral practice.  However, he told 
Mamoon that IECI has not taken same-day registration and 
polling off the table entirely but will only consider using 
it as a last resort and under the most extraordinary 
circumstances.  Regarding use of mosques as polling sites, 
Izadin clarified that use of holy places as polling sites is 
against international practice, and IECI preferred schools as 
polling sites because they are free from religious and 
political associations.  Izadin assured Mamoon that his 
concerns would be brought to the attention of the board of 
commissioners for further consideration. 
 
5. (C) On security, Izadin agreed to provide Brigadier 
General Williams the latest locations of "tribal/community 
protected" registration sites so that Marine patrols can 
preclude targeting legitimate voter registration centers in 
the fight against the insurgency.  Izadin said he would push 
the Baghdad interagency security coordination group, 
comprised of MNF-I, MOI, MOD and IECI, to pass along 
locations of the latest registration centers and future 
polling sites. 
 
6. (C) COMMENT:  Embassy facilitated this direct engagement 
between the IECI and Anbar leaders in order to address Sunni 
Arab concerns about the fairness of upcoming elections. 
Izadin was positive about the cooperation that the visit 
promoted and requested Embassy assistance to facilitate more 
outreach activities in the future.  END COMMENT. 
Khalilzad