DAWA HOLDS PARTY CONFERENCE - BUT WHO IS THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001436 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2017 TAGS: PGOV IZ SUBJECT: DAWA HOLDS PARTY CONFERENCE - BUT WHO IS THE SECRETARY GENERAL? SIPDIS REF: BAGHDAD 868 Classified By: Political Counselor Margaret Scobey for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) The Dawa party held its first party conference since the fall of Saddam on April 19-21 at the Rashid Hotel in Baghdad's International Zone. Between 75 and several hundred party members (depending on whom one asks) from throughout Iraq attended the conference. Conference organizers invited GOI leaders including President Talabani, Prime Minister Maliki (a Dawa member himself),and CoR Speaker Mashhadani, to address the gathering. Party members conducted internal elections and developed a final statement that represents its political platform. This statement included support for federalism and emphasis on the need to raise the consciousness of the Iraqi people about federalism; commitment to Article 140; support for reconciliation efforts including for deBaathification reform in order to prevent Baath influence from returning to state organs and to ensure that Baathists with blood on their hands be tried in court; emphasis of the need for an agreement to define authorities between coalition and Iraqi forces and for the speeding up of the transfer of security responsibilities to Iraqi forces; and a call for armed groups without Iraqi blood on their hands to return to the political process. ¶2. (C) Elections took place for the party's Secretary General, its leadership group (perhaps 10-15 people),and its Shura council (perhaps 25 people),but the party has not yet announced the results of these elections. Dawa CoR member Ali al-Alak told PolOff that more procedures were still necessary before announcing the results. Civil society activist Mustafa al-Kathimi told PolOff that, according to his sources in the Dawa party, the four largest vote-getters were, starting with the highest, Prime Minister Maliki, Ibrahim al-Jafari, Ali al-Adeeb, and Abdulhaleem al-Zuhairi (currently a religious advisor to the PM). However, some members contested the results, apparently arguing that the ballot did not say whether the election was for the post of Secretary General or for the leadership group or Shura SIPDIS council. Both CoR member Nada al-Sudani, who told PolFSN that Maliki had received the most votes, and al-Kathimi noted that there was some controversy as to whether Dawa's Secretary General could hold an official post (e.g., Prime SIPDIS Minister) at the same time. Contacts report that the results will be announced soon, though it is unclear what mechanism the party will use to resolve any disputes. Nada al-Sudani nonetheless gave a very optimistic readout to PolCouns, citing the "feel of democracy" that permeated an "excellent" conference held in Iraq for the first time in 50 years. ¶3. (C) Comment: Dawa's conference seems more an indication of the party's limitations than a celebration of its "unique democratic structure" as its members might have wished. The conference's relatively low turnout suggests that Dawa has not undertaken a strong, grass-roots rebuilding effort since ¶2003. Likewise, the dispute over internal elections confirms our impression that the party is more a collection of prominent (and competitive) individuals than a unified organization (reftel). End comment. CROCKER