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.

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Moderate Sunni Arab Party Pleased
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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.

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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.

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KURDISH ALLIANCE
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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