ELECTION UPDATE: SPECIAL VOTING, KIRKUK DECISION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 004987 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2015 TAGS: PNAT PGOV PTER KDEM IZ SUBJECT: ELECTION UPDATE: SPECIAL VOTING, KIRKUK DECISION, AND COMPLAINTS REF: KIRKUK 00276 Classified By: Classified by Political Counselor Robert S. Ford for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The election has officially begun with special voting on December 12 for Iraqi Security Forces (ISF),detainees, and hospital patients. Logistically, the IECI is on track for a successful election day on December 15. In other developments, the IECI has publicly announced that -- to rectify its earlier action that removed 81,000 names from the list of voter rolls in Kirkuk -- it will allow all those included in the deleted 81,000 to vote if they present proper documentation at the polls (reftel). (See septel for a report on an additional and inadvertent omission of voter names which the IECI has resolved without publicity.) Complaints to the IECI, primarily about unfair campaigning practices, have officially passed 100 and promise to soar above this number come election time. End Summary. -------------- VOTING STARTED ON DECEMBER 12 -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Special voting for ISF, detainees, and hospitalized voters took place on December 12; initial reports so far have been positive. The IECI estimates that over 250,000 voters comprised of 22,000 detainee voters, 19,000 hospitalized voters, and over 200,000 ISF voters were eligible to vote. As of early evening December 12, the IECI reports that almost all of the polling centers scheduled to handle special voting have opened. However, a handful of polling centers did not open because the numbers of patients or ISF had fallen below the threshold number required to open a polling center. The IECI reports 87 percent turnout of eligible detainee voters in Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca, and Suse. ¶3. (SBU) Ballots for these voters go to the Tally Center in Baghdad, where they will be mixed in and counted on December 16 with all other national ballots from the International Zone. -------------- IECI CLARIFIES KIRKUK POLICY ON VOTER ROLLS -------------- ¶4. (U) On December 11, the IECI released a press statement explaining its final decision to delete 81,000 from the Kirkuk voter rolls (reftel) and its proposed remedy. This clarification followed a series of reports (including previous IECI press releases) that the IECI had removed between 45,000 and 86,000 registered voters from the rolls. The latest statement reports that after investigating unusual increases in Kirkuk registration, the IECI found that many of the suspicious Kirkuk registration forms carried the same signature and cited the exact same identity document, while other registration forms lacked signatures as well as sufficient proof of identity. This discovery led to the decision to strike all the names. In the December 11 statement, the IECI listed the centers that had been affected by this deletion and stated that voters who have been erroneously deleted from these lists would still be able to vote on December 15 if they bring their copy of the registration form (otherwise known as Form 91) as well as an ID. If the potential voter does not have the proof of registration, then two forms of ID will be required. The IECI is undertaking a public affairs campaign to inform the voters of Kirkuk of this remedy. (Comment: giving voters the chance to bring two identity documents and vote will open the process up to complaints from the Arabs and Turkmen who will suspect Kurdish fraud. Striking all 80,000 names would have infuriated the Kurds. End Comment.) ¶5. (C) In other news, the IECI reports that it has corrected a general voter roll glitch that threatened to delete over 600,000 eligible voters from the voter rolls across Iraq. This mistake, detected by IECI Kirkuk, caused much tension by those who perceived the error to be directed at the Kurdish community. Chairman Izadin al-Mohammady told Poloff on December 13 that IECI representatives and Commissioners, including International Commissioner Craig Jenness, met with President of the Kurdistan Regional government Ma'sud Barzani earlier that day to explain this error and smooth over any sensitivities (septel). -------------- COMPLAINTS -------------- ¶6. (SBU) On December 11, Michael Clegg from the International Elections Assistance Team (IEAT) briefed the international community about the complaint process. Complaints can be delivered in one of three ways: via email, at polling centers during voting day, and at IECI offices throughout the country. All complaints are forwarded to the complaints office at IECI headquarters in Baghdad, which will immediately triage the complaint into one of two categories: red or green. Red complaints are those which if shown to be valid, could affect the outcome of the elections. ¶7. (SBU) Once the complaints are triaged, they are assigned to a lawyer case officer who is responsible for the investigation and resolution of the complaint. When enough evidence is gathered to make a recommendation, the complaint and recommendation are forwarded to the Board who by law makes the final decision. ¶8. (C) During the January 30 elections, the IECI received a total of 400-450 complaints. Of those complaints, roughly six were red complaints, and over two hundred were related to Out-of-Country voting. During the October 15 referendum, approximately 140 complaints were received, with just a few red complaints. However, even with less than 200, the IECI has only just now finished processing all complaints relating to the referendum. On December 11, Poloff talked with Ali al-Jabr, director of the Complaints Office, to understand why processing complaints for the referendum took almost two months. Jabr noted that much of the bottleneck lies with the Board, which requires a quorum to make a decision on each complaint. Jabr did note, however, that red complaints (which could potentially affect when election results are announced) are often swiftly resolved. ¶9. (C) Jabr reported that the IECI is expecting between 1000 and 2000 complaints for this election, and has been preparing accordingly. Six new lawyers from the Baghdad Bar Association have been contracted to assist the incumbent five lawyers with workload, and four members of the international team will now be supervising triage and investigation teams. Jabr also told Poloff that the internal complaints office processes had been improved, but the largest hurdle would still be Commissioner decision-making. ¶8. (C) Over 100 complaints had been received to date relating to the elections. The majority of these complaints relate to campaigning practices. On December 8, PolOff spoke with Chief Electoral Officer Adil Allami to urge quick resolution of and response to incoming complaints. PolOffs repeated this message to IECI Chairman Izadin al-Mohammady on December 12. Al-Mohammady told PolOffs that very few of the complaints were accompanied by sufficient evidence to merit action. Many complaints, he said, were descriptions of violations without an indication of who was promoting such action. During this meeting, PolOffs stressed to the Chairman the importance of responding quickly and comprehensively to complainants, even if no action would be taken. -------------- COMMENTS -------------- ¶7. (SBU) With only two days to go, all IECI commissioners save the OCV coordinator are now back in the country to prepare for the elections. Logistics planning is still going according to schedule, and final adjustments are being made to ensure everything is ready for December 15. Meanwhile, the international team as well as the Complaints Office are waiting to see how election day complaints will affect the timing of the announcement of results. The press release deleting Kirkuk voter names from the rolls promises to remain a contentious issue with both Turks and Kurds, and most likely will result in some complaints come election day. KHALILZAD KHALILZAD