IRAQ: ITALY PRAISES IRAQI ELECTIONS

UNCLAS ROME 004071

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PREL PGOV IZ IT IRAQI ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: IRAQ: ITALY PRAISES IRAQI ELECTIONS

REF: STATE 225860


1. (U) PM Berlusconi issued a statement on December 15
praising the Iraqi elections as a further step on the road to
democracy. Noting that first indications suggested a
significant Sunni turnout, Berlusconi said the vote also
marked a strike against the insurgents. The statement also
noted Italy's contribution to this process under a UN mandate
unanimously adopted by the international community. Embassy
translation of Berlusconi's statement is reprinted below.


2. (U) Begin text. Once again the Iraqi people have
demonstrated with their own courage their desire for
democracy. Today's elections, independent of the as yet
unknown results, confirms that democracy is the path chosen
by the Iraqis to follow towards a future of peace and
liberty. I am pleased that the first results indicate a
significant voter turnout on the part of the Sunni community.
It is a sign of further isolation of the terrorist forces
that want to create a civil war in Iraq and prefer hate and
violence to democratic dialogue. In 2005, despite the
difficulties, the Iraqi people went to the polls three times,
and I hope that soon they will have a fully legitimate
government, freely elected on the basis of a new Constitution
approved by the October 15 referendum. We are proud to have
contributed to this grand test of democracy following the
unanimously adopted UN Security Council mandate. People
voting freely and the end of the cruel dictatorship of Saddam
Hussein are concrete facts that were unimaginable three years
ago. The rest is only useless polemics.

End text.
SPOGLI