IRAQI ELECTION COMMISSION DISQUALIFIES IRAQI VOTE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000047

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2016
TAGS: IZ PGOV PHUM
SUBJECT: IRAQI ELECTION COMMISSION DISQUALIFIES IRAQI VOTE
IN TURKEY

REF: 05 ANKARA 7677

Classified By: POL Counselor Robert Ford, reason 1.4 (d)


1. (C) On January 4, Commissioner Safwat Sidqi told Poloff
that the IECI Board had disqualified all of the Istanbul
votes due to strong evidence of fraud. Ninety-five percent
of these votes, estimated between 10,000-20,000, were for
the Iraqi Turkman Front. The disqualification of these
votes will not have any affect on seat distribution.


2. (C) The decision to disqualify these ballot boxes was
prompted by International Mission for Iraqi Elections
(IMIE) reports as well as incongruent turnout statistics
(ref). IMIE monitored all 4 polling centers in Turkey
including the 3 Istanbul polling centers. The IMIE
assessment noted that:

--No polling centers were established in the Kurdish areas
of Turkey;
-- Repeated voting was observed in all Istanbul polling
centers;
--Party agents were observed with vaseline and bleach
products, presumably to help voters take off the voting
ink;
--Voters were overheard to ask polling staff when they
could return to vote again;
--Polling staff frequently went behind voter screens to
assist voters;
--Many staff appeared to be related to each other and were
very familiar with all the voters; and
--The IECI-OCV office in Istanbul reimbursed the travel
cost for five buses of voters transported from Bursa and
Yallova.


3. (C) Commissioner Saftwat Sidqi also noted that when the
IECI examined some of the ballot boxes, the boxes appeared
to be stuffed, containing on average more than 1,000
ballots per box ? twice the number of votes normally
contained by a ballot box. The Commissioner told Poloff
that the IECI would hold a press conference within the next
week to discuss complaints generated during the December 15
election, and would consider mentioning the complaints about
voter irregularity in Turkey and other
complaints at that time.
KHALILZAD