US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4330

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 004330 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, KDEM, IZ 
SUBJECT: REFERENDUM-RELATED COMPLAINTS NUMBER LESS  THAN 100 
 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Robert S. Ford for 
reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
1. (C) UN/EAD legal advisor Jose Aranaz, told Poloff 
October 19 that the IECI has received approximately 80 
complaints about the referendum process, 40 of which 
are associated with events on referendum day, October 
15. The remaining 40 complaints are related to the 
voter registration period and the days leading up to 
the referendum.  Section 4.1 of IECI Regulation No. 
5/2005 provides that a complaint or dispute related to 
the referendum process must be made within three days 
of the alleged violation.  Given this timeframe, the 
deadline for most complaints based on actions taken on 
October 15 should have passed.  However, because 
tallying of the votes continues, the deadline for 
complaints relating to vote counting remains open. 
 
2. (C) Aranaz told Poloff on October 19 that there 
were no complaints that indicated widespread fraud. 
He cited as examples of complaints: interference by 
locals, double voting, and voting by unregistered 
persons.  He also provided a rough breakdown of the 
origin of the forty October 15 related complaints. 
The highest numbers originated from the provinces of 
Wasit (11 complaints), Tamim, (11 complaints), and 
Ninewa (7 complaints). 
Satterfield