SUNNIS GENERALLY PLEASED WITH ELECTIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 005022 SIPDIS CENTCOM FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2025 TAGS: IZ PGOV SUBJECT: SUNNIS GENERALLY PLEASED WITH ELECTIONS Classified By: POL COUNS ROBERT S. FORD, REASON 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. Our initial soundings from Sunni Arab and Kurdish political figures indicate that they are pleased with the election even though they are collecting complaints from an apparently reasonably well developed poll observer network. The Sunni political leaders we spoke with December 15 evening were especially pleased about the high voter turnout in Sunni Arab areas. One hard-line imam-turned- politician told PolCouns that the elections were "seventy percent good" and noted pointedly that the violence was limited because insurgents like the Islamic Army had stood down. We have heard many allegations of fraud from the Sunnis about Iraqi security forces threatening voters either in Ninewa or south of Baghdad. They are likely to present written complaints to the election commission. The Kurdistan Islamic Union topped the list of aggrieved parties today, claiming that the Kurdistan Alliance had shut down several polling centers in Irbil early and rigged the vote. The senior Kurd running in Baghdad, PUKer Fuad Masum, thought the election in the capital had gone very well. Kurdish observers also had found problems, he said, but not enough to seriously mar the election. In the end, this wheeler-dealer observed, "a little fraud is not such a bad thing." End Summary. -------------- Moderate Sunni Arab Party Pleased -------------- ¶2. (C) Nassir al-Ani, a top official of the Iraqi Islamic Party within the Iraqi Tawaffuq (Consensus) Front, enthused to Poloff late December 15 that Sunni Arab voter turnout had exceeded the party's expectations. The IECI had actually run out of ballots in several Anbar centers and needed to replenish them, he said with happy amazement. Ani said that it had been a terrific day for their election slate. Meanwhile, Ayed Samarrai'e, the number two at the Islamic Party, grumped about problems with the balloting in Anbar. He asked for USG help getting the IECI to think of ways for people to vote later (NOTE: Later, the IECI extended the closing time for all polling centers by one hour. END NOTE.) ¶3. (C) According to Samarrai'e, Tawaffuq fielded 25,000 election observers. In some areas, he said they were reporting to the party headquarters that the process was smooth; he cited Salahadin as an example. He said there were more problems where Sunni Arabs had "friction" with Kurds or Shia, such as Mosul and areas south of Baghdad. He also said they had received reports of armed Kurdish gangs barging into polling stations and voting - the same group going to several polling stations and voting in each one. He added that two IIP observers had been arrested in Latifiya, two in Mahmudiya and one in Baghdad's Hayy ash-Shurta neighborhood. In many locales, he claimed, polling station managers refused to provide observers with the required complaints form. He was also agitated about reports that people in eastern Baghdad were trying to vote even though their names were not on the list, citing Sadr City. PolCouns reiterated our interest in a fair and credible election and urged Samarrai'e that it was incumbent on the Islamic Party to document the details carefully and provide written complaints to the election commission. -------------- Sunni Hard-Liner Also Pleased -------------- ¶4. (C) Shaykh Abdel Nasser al-Janabi from the Tawaffuq group told PolCouns that the election was 70 percent okay. He attributed the relatively low level of violence to the resistance standing down and rather than attacking Coalition Forces was instead protecting election activities, as seen by the Islamic Army announcement. He said that the Americans and the resistance are working on the same side now (he was only half kidding). He added that the Sunni Arab turnout was high because the public understood the importance of the election. ¶5. (C) Al-Janabi urged that the American military protect voting centers in Sunni Arab areas as the Iraqi National Guard (ING) has caused many problems. He alleged that the ING had intimidated voters in al- Adheem in Diyala and in Radwaniya south of Baghdad by telling them to vote the Shia Islamist Coalition (List 555) or stay away. He also highlighted shortages of ballots in Fallujah, and in Diyala districts of Buhriz and Bazhayz Khursan. He claimed that in north Babil's Juz As-Suhur, they had found ballot boxes with votes in them already when they opened it December 15. He claimed that in Latifiya a "Colonel Ali" of the ING ordered the Latifiya polling stations to close at 15:00 - he asked for help reopening them. He further alleged that Iraqi Army units in Makhmur and Blayj in Ninewa closed polling centers this AM and told people to go elsewhere, such as distant Sinjar, to vote. Like the Islamic Party, Al-Janabi asked that the voting time be extended a couple hours to compensate for the logistical problems of the day. ¶6. (C) Saleh Mutlaq, leader of the Iraqi National Front, told State personnel that he was pleased with the large Sunni Arab turnout nationwide. He reported no major security incidents and was optimistic about the overall vote. -------------- KURDISH ALLIANCE -------------- ¶7. (C) Fuad Masum, the first candidate for the Kurdish Alliance in Baghdad, told PolCouns that the election operations went well. He said the Kurdish Alliance had roughly 6,000 party observers in Baghdad alone to cover the city's 1,450 polling centers. These observers have reported problems in some areas, mainly people whose names were not on the registers trying to vote in Baghdad and also in Mosul. He alleged that, in a few locales, their observers were not allowed to observe ) none of whom were arrested. The Kurdish Alliance will present a written list of complaints, but overall, he underlined, the election had gone well. That take stood in sharp contrast to the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU),the Kurdistan Alliance List's only real competition in the vote. KIU leaders contacted Poloff and IECI officials several times during the day to complain that several Irbil polling centers had been mysteriously closed early to block voters and rig the vote. Dr. Fuad, the consummate wheeler-dealer insider, did not comment on that allegation in particular, but did observe, "Well, a little fraud is not such a bad thing." KHALILZAD