PRT SALAH AD-DIN: SAD VOTER REGISTRATION GOING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002707

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD-DIN: SAD VOTER REGISTRATION GOING
SMOOTHLY BUT VOTERS UNINFORMED

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Greg D'Elia for reasons 1.4 (
b) and (d).

This is a PRT Salah ad Din reporting cable.

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Voter registration in Salah ad Din (SaD)is proceeding
smoothly, but many other SaD residents are uninformed about
the elections and not aware that voter registration is taking
place, SaD Governorate Electoral Officer (GEO) informed PRT
members on August 18 The GEO believed many people who had
boycotted previous elections are now energized to vote, with
Sunni interest stronger than Shi'a interest. He said Samarra
ranks as the top city for voter registration in all Iraq,
with figures exceeding 40,000. He believes that elections
will still be held this year. End summary.

Smooth Sailing at VRCs
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2. (C) SaD Governorate Electoral Officer (GEO) Dr. Hatim
Abdulhamid (strictly protect) told PRT members in an August
18 meeting that voter registration is proceeding smoothly,
and that there have been no reported incidents of violence or
intimidation at the Voter Registration Centers (VRCs) or
against potential voters. Dr. Hatim said that he is
receiving good cooperation from the ISF with 10 Iraqi Police
(IP) on hand at each VRC. He said that no significant public
complaints have been received (there were two complaints
about insufficient electricity at the VRCs which were
resolved with the placement of generators at those VRCs).


3. (C) Dr. Hatim told the PRT that voter registration has
been extended beyond the August 15 deadline until the August

21. (Note: The Independent High Electoral Commission
recently extended voter registration until August 28. End
Note.) As of August 17, 111,101 potential SaD voters have
visited the VRCs to verify voter information for themselves
and their families. Dr. Hatim said he had not heard of any
government officials or other leaders organizing their
followers to visit the VRCs as a group.

SaD Public Generally Uninformed
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4. (C) Dr. Hatim said that many SaD residents are uninformed
about the elections and are not aware that voter registration
is taking place. He said that many cannot distinguish
between voting centers and VRCs and are not familiar with the
whole elections process. Dr. Hatim said four local NGOs have
been funded by UNOPS, but only two of them -- Organization of
Iraqi Family and Hammurabi Organization to monitor human
rights and democracy -- are making any efforts to educate
potential voters. He said the other two NGOs -- Al-Rawafid
Cultural Association and Lawyers Association in Salah ad Din
-- have not done anything. Samarra, Al-Dawr and Balad, where
the two active NGOs are working, have seen the most
registrants. He described the NGOs, outreach efforts as
relying on seminars and workshops to educate the public. Due
to security concerns, the seminars are not advertised to the
public; invitations are given to specific organizations such
as businesses or social groups. Although from a security
perspective, these types of non-public seminars are safer,
they also limit the NGOs, ability to conduct a wide reaching
campaign. This limitation is certainly one factor behind
insufficient public awareness. Another factor is that the use
wide-reaching media such as TV and radio was minimal at best,
primarily because it is considered too expensive. Dr. Hatim
noted that although the outreach campaign was limited in
scope, it was effective for those it reached. He said that
many potential voters who seemed indifferent to the elections
left the seminars with a strong desire to participate in the
elections process.

Former Boycotters Now Interested
--------------


5. (C) Dr. Hatim said he had noticed that many people who had
boycotted previous elections were now quite energized to
vote. He surmised that experience of the consequences of not
voting (and thus having no political representation) had been
an important factor in increasing the political engagement of
former boycotters. Dr. Hatim said the general trend he is
noticing is that Sunnis in SaD are more interested in voting
this time, while Shi'a voters seem more apathetic, with
Samarra a case in point. Samarra, with one of the worst
security situations in the country, was a source of much
concern for election preparations. Remarkably, Samarra
ranked as the top city in of Iraq for voter registration
numbers with over 40,000 voters registered.

BAGHDAD 00002707 002 OF 002



GEO Believes Elections Likely This Year
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6. (C) When asked his opinion on when elections will be held,
Hatim replied that the official answer is December 22. He
said he still believes this goal can be met as long as the
Provincial Elections law is passed in time. He noted that if
the elections are delayed until next year, a generation of
new voters will come of age, which would require another
registration process. He added that this was only
speculation and that the CoR had the ability to avoid this
dilemma by creating new voting age rules for this election.
He added that it is "not clear" and "even the CoR doesn,t
know" what the complications would be if elections are not
held this year.
CROCKER