US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3758

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003758 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, PHUM, IZ, Elections, Kurdistan Islamic Union, Shia Coalition 
SUBJECT: ELECTION LAW PASSES; SHIA-KURDISH MOVE CLOSER ON 
CONSTITUTION TEXT 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 3750 
     B. KHALILZAD-SATTERFIELD TELCON 
 
Classified By: Charge David Satterfield for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Senior Shi'a Coalition official and Deputy Speaker of 
the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) Hussein Ibrahim 
Saleh al-Shahristani confirmed to Charge on the evening of 
September 12 that the Shi'a Coalition (and the Najaf clergy) 
have agreed to language in the draft constitution regarding 
the water resource management authorities.  Shahristani asked 
Charge to confirm if Kurdish President Masood Barzani had 
indeed agreed to the same language. 
 
1. (C) Later September 12 Charge met with the senior-most 
Kurdish leader currently in Baghdad, Rowsh Shaways (a KDP 
Barzani ally), who said he knew nothing about the agreement. 
He commented, however, that the language appeared reasonable. 
 Shaways then contacted Barzani, who confirmed agreement to 
the language on water as long as Article 135 specifies that 
there will be two Deputy Prime Ministers vice an unspecified 
number of Deputy Prime Ministers (in Arabic, naibain vs. 
nawab). 
 
2. (C) Later in the evening, Charge conveyed Barzani's 
position on the Article 135 language to Shahristani.  When 
Shahristani argued for keeping the number of Deputy Prime 
Ministers unspecified, Charge reminded him that the original 
text of the draft constitution referred to only two. 
Shahristani acknowledged this had been the case and agreed to 
meet with Kurdish leader Fouad Masoom September 13 to iron 
out the details.  If these details are fixed, the TNA 
Constitution Committee will turn the finalized text over to 
the UNAMI team here to use for the public outreach campaign. 
Charge urged Shahristani to use the occasion of presenting 
the draft to the Assembly as an opportunity for a resolution 
of support -- bolstering the status of the constitution in 
the face of Sunni challenges re: the text's "legitimacy." 
Shahristani said he would work the issue in the Assembly. 
 
3. (C) Also on September 12, the TNA passed the election law. 
 It features 230 seats allocated to 18 governorates using the 
voter registry data from the January election as basis and 45 
compensatory seats allocated to a single national district. 
TNA Deputy Speaker Shahristani told us that the law gained 
votes from the Shia Coalition, the Kurds and even the Iraqi 
List bloc of former Prime Minister Allawi.  TNA Legal 
Committee Chairman Mushen Sadoon Noah (a Kurd) was similarly 
pleased and said the draft electoral law enjoyed both Shia 
and Kurdish party support.  During the TNA session, each of 
the 30 articles were individually read, voted on, and passed. 
Satterfield