(SBU) ELECTORAL COMPLAINTS HEAT UP IN KIRKUK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000288 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ SUBJECT: (SBU) ELECTORAL COMPLAINTS HEAT UP IN KIRKUK REF: KIRKUK 284 (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU)SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION. RC and PolOff heard differing electoral complaints in meetings with Kirkuk Provincial Council Chairman Rizgar Ali and several Turcoman council members plus one Arab member on December 12, 2005. The Kurdish Chairman (affiliated with PUK) expressed frustration and distrust with the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) over the removal of approximately 81,000 names from the Kirkuk voter rolls and the subsequent omission of many more. Several Turcoman and one Arab council member complained that the IECI was opening the door to Kurdish fraud by allowing the 81,000 removed registrants to vote if they provided proper identification and proof of registration. END SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION. ¶2. (SBU) REMOVED REGISTRANTS. Kirkuk Provincial Council Chairman Rizgar Ali criticized the Baghdad IECI for the deletion of 203,898 names from the voter register list in Kirkuk. (NOTE: Based on our communications with the Embassy and information from the IECI, we understand that IECI removed around 81,000 voter-registrations from August because many of them were suspected to be fraudulent; more recently, IECI discovered that many more names had failed to be printed on the voter rolls for Kirkuk province, apparently due to errors during transfer of data to the print file. END NOTE.) Chairman Rizgar Ali told us: --Baghdad IECI is trying to disenfranchise Kurds, adding yet another "great insult" to Kirkuk. --The voter lists for Shwan and Qarah Anjir have largely blank pages and if Kurdish leaders accept this, they are not representing the Kurdish people. --The Chairman accused the Baghdad IECI of falsifying data in some neighborhoods to favor non-Kurdish groups. He wanted to see voter lists by polling center. --The high number of voter-registrations in August could appear suspicious, but it simply consisted of: internally displaced persons (IDPs) expelled under Saddam who have returned to Kirkuk since the January elections, plus young people who have turned 18 since January, plus many of the 108,000 late-registrants who were allowed to vote in January subject to re-registering before the next election. (NOTE: As we understand it, IECI did not act based simply on the strikingly high number of new registrations, it found extensive evidence of fraud in those registrations. END NOTE.) Ali claimed the returned IDPs are caught in a no-win situation if they are not allowed to vote in Kirkuk, because they gave up their former voter-registrations when they moved back to Kirkuk. The December 15 election will be the third time the Kurdish people have had to fight for the right to participate in the electoral process. ¶3. (SBU) BATTLING BAGHDAD IECI. Rizgar Ali vowed to do battle with the Baghdad IECI after the election is complete. He presented the RC with a CD that reportedly shows a top IECI official praising the Ba'ath party - a clear indication, according to Ali that the IECI leadership is not independent. (Comment: He has fixed this problem locally: the head of IECI in Kirkuk is a PUK Kurd. End Comment.) -- He called for a complete review of all names on the voter rolls after the election, and for measures to find a solution to Baghdad IECI's biases. --The Kurdistan Alliance List prefers to act legally to solve problems, but will not accept violations by others. It wants success in the electoral process and will support the process in Iraq. However, he noted that winning seats in the National Assembly is not as important as human rights. ¶4. (SBU) TURCOMAN AND ARAB COMPLAINTS. Several Turcomans and one Arab on the Provincial Council complained to RC and PolOff in a separate meeting about the Baghdad IECI decision to allow removed registrants to vote with proper identification and proof of registration. They were incensed at the decision, viewing it as totally discrediting the IECI. --IECI allowed the 81,000 voters to register, then declared them fraudulent, and now says they can vote after all if they produce the proper credentials. --Turcoman PC Member Ali Mehdi stressed that identification documents are easily forged, so the IECI's decision opens the door to massive fraudulent voting (see also reftel). --The group demanded that the names be removed once and for all, to create confidence in the Turcoman and Arab communities. Council Members Hassan Turan (Turcoman) and Rakan Said (Sunni Arab) said fraudulent elections would fuel terrorism in Kirkuk. They asserted that they wanted peace but with justice. --They demanded a reply from the USG within 24 hours, or else they might hold protests or a hunger-strike. ¶5. (SBU) NEED FOR COMPLIANCE AND RESTRAINT. In both meetings, RC stressed the importance of transparency in the election, and the necessity for all to abide by the decisions reached by the Baghdad IECI, which was working closely with UN electoral experts. He highlighted the need for all the political lists to make their observers aware of the latest IECI decisions so they could detect improper conduct at the polling stations. If they saw problems, they should report them immediately. BELL