DEPUTY CHAIR OF COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE UPDATES ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003044 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2016 TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ SUBJECT: DEPUTY CHAIR OF COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE UPDATES ON COMMITTEE WORK AND SHIA INDEPENDENT BLOC Classified By: (U) Classified by Acting Political Counselor Mike Adler for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) EmbOffs met August 17 with Deputy Chair of the Council of Representatives' (CoR) Committee on Complaints Haider Karim al-Suweidi (Shia Coalition/Independent). The Committee on Complaints, a nine-member committee chaired by former Minister of State for National Security Abd al-Karim Ali al-Anzi (Shia Coalition/Dawa Tanzim),is charged with receiving, considering, and following up on citizens' opinions, proposals, and complaints. ¶2. (C) Al-Suweidi said the committee has been very active since its formation, receiving approximately 1,700 complaints from Iraqi citizens in the last two months. The complaints deal with issues like government appointments, government performance, the judiciary, MNF-I, and, he joked, even the Ministry of Human Rights. He said the goal is to reply to every piece of correspondence within fifteen days. He added that there are five-person committee offices in every governorate except Anbar and Salahadin (expected to open soon),with each of the nine members charged with following two governorates. The governorate offices handle the majority of the citizens' issues, with the main CoR committee only getting involved if interaction with the central government in Baghdad is required. He stated that the committee will read a summary report at the first session after the recess. -------------- -------------- Shia Independents ) Still Active -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Al-Suweidi told EmbOffs that the Shia Independent CoR members meet regularly, most recently on August 14. They continue to recognize Minister of Oil Hussein Shahristani as their bloc leader and Deputy CoR Speaker Khalid al-Attiyah as their parliamentary bloc leader. The Independents held a national conference July 16, where the decision was made to have Shia Independent offices in every governorate. He stated that the Independents have not decided if they would run as their own bloc in provincial elections or within the Shia Coalition. They will wait and see what the elections law allows. He added that they prefer to have provincial elections as soon as possible. ¶4. (C) While al-Suwedi acknowledged that he had heard that fellow Shia Independent Qassim Daoud was forming his own party, he said Daoud had not officially informed his colleagues. Therefore, he is still considered a member of the Shia Independent bloc. In addition, al-Suwedi told EmbOffs that the Independents were the only bloc to elect their replacement members. He said the CoR members made nominations and then elected the replacements for Hussein Shahristani (Amer Thamer al-Karam) and Mahmoud Muhammad al-Sheikh al-Radhi (En'am Ali al-Jawadi) SPECKHARD