CANADA: IRAQ OUT-OF-COUNTRY VOTING COMMENCES

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000289 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SOCI KDEM IZ CA SUBJECT: CANADA: IRAQ OUT-OF-COUNTRY VOTING COMMENCES REF: A. CALGARY 21 ¶B. OTTAWA 222 ¶C. TORONTO 140 ¶1. Canada is one of 14 countries designated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to host polling sites for Iraqi citizens to participate in the January 30th election of a transitional National Assembly. As the 3-day window (January 28-30) for out-of-country voting opens at five locations in Canada (1 each in Ottawa and Calgary, 3 in Toronto),10,957 Iraq citizens had registered to vote in this country, as reported in IOM's website. ¶2. Sheena Thomson, who heads IOM's Toronto office, advised Toronto poloff that approximately 45-50 percent of eligible Iraqi citizens in Canada had registered to vote, countering news reports that only 25 percent of Iraqis living in Canada had registered. However, this was significantly lower than the roughly 80 percent turnout that IOM officials had been forecasting for Canada. Similarly, IOM officials in Ottawa advised Ottawa poloff that the number of Iraqis citizens living in the Montreal area who traveled to Ottawa to register was lower than what IOM had been anticipating. ¶3. In explaining the lower-than-anticipated turnout, Thomson indicated in press interviews that poor weather in the Toronto area (home to most of the Iraqi expatriate population in Canada) might have suppressed the participation rate in the Iraqi community. In addition, Iraqi citizens living in the Windsor area were expected to register and vote in Detroit, which might have lowered the overall registration rate in Canada. ¶4. COMMENT. IOM's decision to add an additional two days (January 24-25) to the original 7-day registration period (January 17-23) in each of the 14 countries seemed to have relatively little impact in Canada, based on an analysis of the day-by-day registration figures provided by IOM. In particular, the daily volume of registration recorded in Ottawa during the supplemental period was significantly lower than the daily volume counts in the original registration period; Calgary and Toronto likewise had lower daily volume of registrations, compared to the original period, albeit at less significant drop-offs. Nevertheless, IOM officials in all three cities told poloffs that the registration process went smoothly, and they anticipate that no particular problems will occur during the polling period. END COMMENT. ¶5. Baghdad minimize considered. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa DICKSON