(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