PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS COMMISSION SUSPENDS

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 002821 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/LOGERFO E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/05/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG KPAL KDEM IS SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS COMMISSION SUSPENDS REFERENDUM PREPARATIONS Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Ammar Dweik, the Chief Electoral Officer for the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC),on July 5 confirmed to ConGen Poloff that the CEC had received a two-sentence letter from Abu Mazen's Chief of Staff Rafiq Husseini requesting that the CEC suspend preparations for the July 26 national referendum. Dweik said that the CEC had earlier informed Abu Mazen's office that a formal letter would be necessary to countermand Abu Mazen's June 10 presidential decree. He indicated that the letter requested a "temporary freeze" to the CEC's preparations, adding that Abu Mazen could decide to proceed with the referendum at a future date. ¶2. (C) Dweik expressed satisfaction with the suspension since the CEC still lacked the necessary funds to complete preparations for the referendum. To that end, he reported that CEC officials had met with representatives from the Arab Bank on July 4 to gain access to approximately USD 2.7 million in frozen CEC funds. Dweik said that the money is needed to pay thousands of polling station workers from the January legislative council elections. WALLES