TNA CONSIDERS LAW POSTPONING ALL LOCAL ELECTIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003832 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM IZ SUBJECT: TNA CONSIDERS LAW POSTPONING ALL LOCAL ELECTIONS REF: A) HILLAH 202 B) KIRKUK 39 C) BAGHDAD 3204 Classified By: Political Counselor Robert Ford for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (U) TNA read on September 13 the following draft: BEGIN TEXT: The Draft Law of the Local Councils Elections' Postponement. Article 1 The local councils' elections that are mentioned in Chapter 4 in Order Number 71 for year 2004 shall be postponed until further notice. Article 2 This law shall be in force on the date of its issuance and shall be published into the official gazette. End text. ¶2. (SBU) TNA Legal Committee Chairman Mushen Sadoon provided Poloff with a copy of the text September 14. Sadoon declined to comment on the law's genesis, outside of indicating that the measure had originated in his committee. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶3. (C) If passed, this law would effectively postpone all sub-governorate elections in Iraq. Understandably focused on preparations for the national elections, the Iraqi election commission has thus far declined to assist governorate council efforts to conduct local elections. Nevertheless, Wasit's governorate council held some local elections (ref a) and Salad ad-Din's governorate council was ready to start local elections (ref b). The Baghdad governorate council also was seriously considering how to hold local elections (ref c). If the law passes, such plans are now on indefinite hold. End Comment. Satterfield