US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4071

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 004071 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2015 
TAGS: MOPS, PHUM, PINS, PTER, IZ, Elections, Detainees 
SUBJECT: IECI LUKEWARM ON COALITION DETAINEE VOTING 
 
Classified By: Classified by David C. Litt, Political- 
Military Affairs Counselor, for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C) The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq 
has wavered in its support for MNF-I plans to allow 
11,000 Coalition security internees to vote in the 
October 15th constitutional referendum, suggesting 
that IECI will provide monitoring teams only if Iraqis 
held in pre-trial jails by the Ministry of the 
Interior and Ministry Of Defense are also able to 
vote. 
 
2.  (C) It is not clear that MOI in particular has 
adequate resources for this project, nor that IECI can 
supply teams to the large number of small, far-flung 
MOI facilities. MNF-I has proposed instead that MOI 
teams be invited to Coalition facilities on October 
15th to watch Coalition-organized detainee voting, 
with an eye to making similar arrangements for MOI 
detainees in the upcoming general election. 
 
3.  (C) Senior ITG officials, including Deputy Prime 
Minister Abid Mutlaq al-Jiburi have indicated that 
they will speak directly to IECI members and urge them 
to de-couple these two essentially unrelated issues. 
 
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STRONG SUNNI AND MNF-I INTEREST IN DETAINEE VOTING 
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4.  (C) Interest in detainee voting is high in the 
Sunni community.  The Iraqi Islamic Party considers 
the 11,000-strong, mostly Sunni detainee population to 
be a key constituency, and is distributing copies of 
the Korans to detainees this Ramadan; DPM al-Jiburi 
has made stump speeches at several recent detainee 
releases from Abu Ghraib. 
 
5.  (C) Many detainees have also expressed interest in 
voting, though not always constructively.  The most 
damaging riot in a coalition detention facility to 
date occurred on February 1, 2005, sparked by 
detainees demonstrating in protest against their 
inability to vote in the previous day's election. 
(IECI opposed their participation, although it did not 
provide a rationale.) 
 
6.  (C) In August, IECI appeared to support allowing 
MNF-I detainees at Camp Bucca and Abu Ghraib to vote 
in the October constitutional referendum, which would 
require IECI to send a four-person team to each 
facility.  As a result, MNF-I has made the necessary 
logistical arrangements (as well as commissioning 
videotaped readings of the constitution for the 
consideration of often-illiterate detainees). 
 
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PREVIOUS IECI SUPPORT REVERSED 
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7.  (C) However, last week interim UN Commissioner 
Carina Perelli informed MNF-I that IECI would not 
support voting by Coalition security detainees at Abu 
Ghraib and Camp Bucca unless similar voting 
arrangements were made by the Iraqi MOI and MOD for an 
estimated 2,400 prisoners held in jails and holding 
facilities nationwide - a logistically daunting 
proposition in which MOI has shown little interest. 
(Note: Under the Iraqi Penal Code, convicted prisoners 
held in MOJ facilities are not entitled to vote for 
any representative council.) 
 
8.  (C) MNF-I is proposing in response that MOI 
personnel observe voting by Coalition detainees on 
October 15th, in preparation for pre-trial prisoner 
voting at MOI facilities in future.  DPM Jiburi and 
Deputy Minister of Human Rights Nermin Othman have 
told us that they intend to urge IECI members to 
support Coalition detainee voting on October 15th 
regardless of MOI and MOD's ability to make similar 
arrangements. 
 
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COMMENT 
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9.  (C) Given that in MNF-I's view there is little 
connection between MNF-I making arrangements for 
voting by Coalition security internees and MOI and MOD 
doing the same for pre-trial prisoners in Iraqi custody, 
it is tempting to draw the conclusion that IECI's UN 
advisors are simply unenthusiastic about the prospect 
of providing eight personnel to supervise voting at 
Abu Ghraib at Camp Bucca. 
 
10.  (C) However, IECI to date has not expressed 
concerns about their ability to provide teams for MNF- 
I facilities.  Unless the IECI expresses substantive 
concern about capacity, or it appears that permitting 
Coalition detainees to vote will hamper electoral 
efforts elsewhere, MNF-I and the ITG officials will 
continue planning for detainees at Abu Ghraib and Camp 
Bucca to participate in the October 15th referendum. 
Satterfield