PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS: ELECTIONS IN 2008

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 002929 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2018 TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ SUBJECT: PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS: ELECTIONS IN 2008 OR LONG-TERM CAPACITY BUILDING? BAGHDAD 00002929 001.2 OF 003 ZFR**********ZFR**********ZFR************ZFR* ********ZFR PLEASE CANCEL MESSAGE AND BLANK ALL ASSOCIATED MCN'S WILL SENT OUT UNDER NEW MRN ZFR**********ZFR**********ZFR************ZFR* ********ZFR Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Robert Ford for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Senior Iraqi election commission (IHEC) officials told us September 9 that they require 135 days of lead time between passage of an election law and the holding of elections to organize credible provincial elections. They indicated that January 2009 was the earliest date an election could be held. They expressed concern that pressure -- from within Iraq or outside -- to compress the timeline would undermine the credibility of the elections. Meanwhile, a well-placed international expert working with the election commission told us that the commission so far has adequate resources and the institutional capacity to hold an election in late January. He and a UNAMI official both think IHEC could conduct an election this year, but compressing the timeline to do that would strain IHEC's capabilities. As a result, holding elections this year would likely necessitate more direct international assistance to the commission, especially in facilitating operational procurements. It would necessarily reduce the international donors' focus on building IHEC's organization capacity. An international expert working with the election commission asserted to us on September 8 that reducing the time for election candidate registration and the duration of the challenge period in order to hold elections this year also could hurt the election's credibility. End Summary. -------------- IHEC: We Need Four Months -------------- ¶2. (C) Polmincouns met with senior officials of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) Kasim Al-Abodi and Dr. Usama A. Alani on September 9 to discuss IHEC's planning and timelines for the upcoming provincial elections. Both officials stressed that technical preparations up to now, including voter registration and data entry, had gone smoothly despite the absence of an election law. Judge Kassim and Al-Alani both expressed concern that Iraq's leadership and political parties will make the IHEC the scapegoat if elections are in any way flawed, whether in conduct or timing. The officials said the commission was doing its utmost to prepare the ground work for elections whenever they might be held to avoid providing any grist to such charges. Some activities, such as the voter registration, exposed the IHEC to some risk since they had expended government funds without actually having an election officially in the offing. ¶3. (C) The officials observed that ensuring the credibility of the election was essential and could only be assured with a minimum lead time of 135 days between passage of an election law and the holding of the election. They asserted that late January 2009 was the earliest a credible election could be held, assuming expeditious passage of an election law following the opening of parliament on September 9. ¶4. (C) Judge Kassim listed some of the tasks that must be done to hold provincial elections but which cannot be done before the passage of an election law. For example, they cannot register candidates or political coalitions until the new law defines the criteria for them. They cannot register internally displaced persons to vote until the law defines precisely what documentation would be required for registration. They cannot print ballots until they know if there is an open or closed list system. An open-list system would require candidate names and a very different ballot layout for the printers. He pointed to limitations of the 2005 law, which was drafted for national, not provincial, elections. For example, there are provisions in the new provincial powers law that conflict with elements of the 2005 law, such as the number of seats in provincial councils. -------------- IHEC Abilities and Tradeoffs -------------- ¶5. (C) An international elections expert who works closely with IHEC suggested to us September 8 that the commission's critical path to elections could be reduced to 105 days. This shorter time span would require that IHEC take Ramadan 'eid and other holidays. He concurred that with this lead time, generally speaking, IHEC could prepare conduct the provincial council elections, but he raised concern about the credibility of the resulting election. He highlighted that international advisors would have to take a greater role in the preparations, while the registration and challenge periods would have to be shortened. ¶6. The expert opined - in an entirely personal capacity - that October 1 is the absolute latest date for a new BAGHDAD 00002929 002.2 OF 003 ZFR******************ZFR**************ZFR**** *********ZFR PLEASE CANCEL MESSAGE AND ALL ASSOCIATED MRNS. MESSAGE WILL BE RESENT UNDER NEW MRN ZFR******************ZFR**************ZFR**** *********ZFR BAGHDAD 00002929 003 OF 003 mechanism as critical. Working closely with IFES and UNAMI, IHEC has begun work on this, but requires an election law to finish. The expert said that even once this framework is developed, the modalities for investigating and processing disputes with the security services will need to be established, and local police forces trained in their duties and responsibilities with respect to enforcing provisions of the election law. ¶12. (C) The expert predicted that IHEC would require substantial procurement and logistical assistance to pull off provincial elections by the end of 2008. He said the programmatic shift from longer-term institutional development of IHEC to conducting elections in December could compromise international efforts to build IHEC capacity. He also warned that an abbreviated critical path would mean that IHEC would not be able to work on anything else but the provincial elections. Ongoing work on establishing district and sub-district council units, preparing for potential constitutional referenda, elections in the KRG, and parliamentary elections would fall by the wayside. He also expressed concern that truncating candidate registration and challenge periods could jeopardize the election's credibility. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶13. (C) Our policy has been to focus on building QEC's long-term capacity. Although the combination of USAID and UNAMI assistance to the IHEC has been substantial, we have minimized direct involvement in IHEC management operations to compel it to develop its own organizational capacity. The warning the international expert left us is that if we want elections by year's end, we will need to be much more directly involved in IHEC's procurement, managerial, and organizational operations. USAID would also have to reprogram funds, sacrificing on-going long-term capacity building activities. Of course, UNAMI has the lead in coordinating assistance to the IHEC and we will stay in close contact with its team as we assess IHEC's abilities to conduct provincial elections on relatively short notice. CROCKER