STRONG TURNOUT MARKS OPENING HOURS OF IRAQI

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 005016

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL IZ
SUBJECT: STRONG TURNOUT MARKS OPENING HOURS OF IRAQI
ELECTIONS

REF: PHEE ELECTION TASKFORCE EMAILS

Classified By: Classified by Political Counselor Robert Ford for reason
s
1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (SBU) The election for Iraq's new national assembly is
progressing well with good turnout, along with technical
problems in some locales. While strong voter participation
was anticipated in the Shi'a-dominated south, our observers
are reporting long lines and a festive atmosphere in the
Sunni-dominated Anbar province. In some Sunni Arab areas
we are getting reports from political party contacts of
ballot shortages. Many provinces are finding voter
registration lists incomplete; people are being turned away
in some instances. Observer access to polling centers
appears normal. There are pockets of violence in the
country, but security does not seem to be impeding people
from voting. There are reports about ballot manipulation,
mainly in the Shia and Kurd-dominated areas. It is still
too early to determine participation levels, but the flow
is steady throughout Iraq. Local offices of IECI are
actively trying to resolve technical issues as they arise.
End Summary.


2. (SBU) There are encouraging signs that democracy has
been embraced across Iraq. REO Basrah reports that women
constitute a majority in many polling sites. In our visit
to a West Baghdad polling station, the majority of voters
also appeared to be women, many in western dress. In
violence-plagued Fallujah, near the heart of the Sunni
triangle, families are bringing their children to voting
sites. In the Shi'a south, well organized transportation
teams are bringing elderly voters in trucks to cast their
first ballots for full-term representation. Although this
is a partisan effort in support of the United Iraqi
Coalition, the dominant Shi'a bloc, "get out the vote"
campaigns demonstrate commitment and organization not often
found in emerging democracies.


3. (C) Fraud, coercion and manipulation are also reported,
principally in the south and in the Kurdish border cities
of Kirkuk and Mosul. Registration problems in Kirkuk have
left Kurds and others unable to vote because their names
are not on the lists of registered voters. In Anbar
province, there is one reported case of ballot box
tampering by Shi'a employees of the electoral commission.
There are reports of ballot shortages in Anbar,
particularly in Fallujah. We have not confirmed the well-
reported story of an intercepted truck filled with forged
ballots from Iran. MNFI, however, doubts the veracity of
the accusation. Turcoman sources have complained of Kurds
being bussed into Kirkuk from surrounding provinces,
although many of these may be voters who were moved out of
Kirkuk during the regime of Saddam Hussein and explicitly
permitted to register and vote there, even though their
current residence is elsewhere.


4. (C) Pockets of violence have been reported in several
provinces including Baghdad, but there is little evidence
that they have suppressed participation. There have been
explosions, rocket rounds and mortar attacks around Iraq
today. (The Embassy compound received a direct hit at 0705
this morning, injuring three.) The Provincial
Reconstruction Team's political officer in Mosul reported
mortars and rounds in the early morning, but the attacks
have since tailed off. Local press has reported that
single suicide bomber (Egyptian) was arrested in Mosul
before setting off the charge.
KHALILZAD