US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3679

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003679 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KDEM, IZ, Elections 
SUBJECT: TNA NEAR TO CLOSURE ON ELECTION LAW 
 
Classified By: Classified by Acting Political Counselor Michael J. Adle 
r for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY. Deputy Speaker Sharistani (UIA) and Legal 
Committee Chairman Mushen Sadoon Abdullah (KDP) expressed 
confidence to PolOff September 5 that the TNA will pass the 
Election law within a week.  Sadoon predicted that a 
provision for Out-of-Country Voting (OCV) would be included 
in the final draft.  Shahristani said he preferred to include 
language affirming the constitutional goal of achieving a 
minimum 25 percent female representation in the TNA over 
specific language requiring every third candidate on each 
party list to be female.  END SUMMARY 
 
2. (C) In a September 5 meeting, Legal Committee Chairman 
Sadoon told PolOff that a provision for OCV would be added to 
the final draft of the election law.  He also said that a 
requirement that a candidate reside in the governorate that 
he/she is contesting would be dropped from the text.  Even 
though several TNA members called for changes in the number 
of compensatory seats, Sadoon predicted that 45 compensatory 
seats would be kept, as originally agreed by party leaders. 
 
3. (C) Separately, Deputy Speaker Shahristani echoed that 
demand for OCV was high among TNA members and predicted that 
the December 15 election would have an OCV provision.  With 
regard to the quota for women, instead of defining the actual 
mechanism (e.g., requiring every third candidate on each 
party list to be female), Shahristani said he (1) preferred 
to include language stating the constitutional goal of 
achieving a minimum 25 percent female representation in the 
TNA and (2) to allow the IECI to come up with the necessary 
regulations. 
 
4. (C) COMMENT: The above comments track closely with reports 
from UNAMI staff based on their discussions with Iraqi 
political leaders.  We will monitor developments closely in 
the coming days. 
Satterfield