BASRAH ELECTION UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000057 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/10/2018 TAGS: PGOV IZ SUBJECT: BASRAH ELECTION UPDATE BASRAH 00000057 001.2 OF 002 CLASSIFIED BY: Howell Howard, Director, Regional Embassy Office Basrah, Dept. of State. REASON: 1.4 (b) ¶1. (C/REL MCFI) SUMMARY: The Basrah elections Director, Hazim Joda told the Basrah Regional Embassy Office (REO) and UK FCO that 34 acceptable voter registration centers had been identified, as of June 4. Coalition forces are conducting their own security assessment. Liaison between the ISF and Hazim has not been optimal, so REO will engage with ISF leaders. Registration materials have not reached Basrah. Hazim has a solid plan to securely warehouse registration materials, but has asked the GOI's permission to use a larger GOI warehouse that would be needed for ballots. (Hazim said all of Iraq's ballots will pass through Basrah via Umm Qasr port - sorry, I don't understand why this is significant. In any event, I wouldn't put it in the summary). The funding process for election needs has been unwieldy. 39 Political Entities have registered with Hazim, including 19 independents; women appear underrepresented. A Coalition elections working group, including REO, UK FCO/PRT and MND-SE meets regularly. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C/REL MCFI) Coalition stakeholders have formed a Basrah elections working group, consisting of representatives from the British FCO Embassy Office in Basrah, the British-led PRT, MND-SE J-9 and the U.S. REO. The group meets regularly with the Basrah Province Governorate Electoral Office (GEO) Director, Hazim Joda; the latest meeting was June 4. The International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) representative (funded by USAID) has also made several trips to Basrah to assess GEO needs and to conduct training. ¶3. (C/REL MCFI) GEO Director Hazim, working in conjunction with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the district/subdistrict officials, chose each Voter Registration Center (VRC) and the polling stations as well. After changing several sites that were inadequate, 34 VRCs have been selected for Basrah province; Hazim said he is more or less satisfied with the sites selected. There are several alternate sites selected in case of possible scheduling conflicts from the selected sites. (Note: Embassy information is that IHEC chose the VRCs at the national level after input from the GEO directors. End Note.) Hazim lamented that the cooperation from the Iraqi Army (IA) and Police (IP) has not been fully satisfactory and that he had asked the ISF liaison officer assigned to work with him to be replaced; he asked the REO if Coalition representatives could help convince the ISF commander for a replacement. A site security assessment team from MND-SE (including U.S. military) has visited about 80% of the selected sites. No significant security concerns have so far been raised from the team's assessment. ¶4. (C/REL MCFI) Voter registration documents have not yet been shipped to Basrah from Dubai. (Note: Printing is not yet completed, so part of Iraq has received the documents yet. End Note. The shipment of registration documents for the four southern provinces, estimated to weigh about 22 tons, is planned to be air-shipped to Basrah Air Station (BAS). The documents will be further distributed to the neighboring three provinces of Maysan, Dhi Qar, and Muthanna after arrival in Basrah. The documents will be transported to the GEO warehouse located near the BAS with the ISF providing security. The current plan for security at the warehouse is to have the GEO prove two armed guards to guard the interior of the warehouse while ISF provide perimeter security. ¶5. (C/REL MCFI) Hazim was concerned that the present warehouse space may not be sufficient when the time comes to store ballots. He claimed that Basrah will be the central hub for receiving and distribution ballots for all of Iraq. The ballots would be shipped through Umm Qasr port and transported to the Basrah warehouse for distribution to the rest of the country. Hazim would prefer to use the GOI-owned (Ministry of Commerce) Central Warehouse, constructed during the Saddam regime as the central national depository, in Basrah city, which is larger. He is waiting for approval from the Ministry of Commerce. ¶6. (C/REL MCFI) The full GOI funding for the elections has not been forthcoming and Hazim has to submit each funding requirement individually to Baghdad for approval. Hazim opined that GOI funding has been slow mainly due from the delay in the passage of the Elections law and the uniquely Iraqi bureaucratic "turns and twists." (Note: Hazim conducts his meetings in English and is fairly fluent. End Note.) Hazim noted that the funding for the 2005 elections came mainly from the UN or USG. ¶7. (C/REL MCFI) Each VRC will be staffed with 12 people. Two from each VRC, the manager and deputy, have already been sent to a five-day training course in Karbala. These will then train the remaining staff. Hazim indicated that due to pending logistical and security issues, voter registration would take place after June 15. (Note: current scheduling is July 1 - 30. BASRAH 00000057 002.2 OF 002 End Note.) ¶8. (C/REL MCFI) The Political Entity (PE) registration and certification process closed May 30, with 39 PEs having registered, including 19 independents. Only one current Provincial Council (PC) member, the chairman of Economic Committee and the Co-Chair of Basrah Development Commission (BDC),Munathil Abd Khanjar Al Miyahi, and two women have registered as independents. There are 12 female PC members in the current Basrah Provincial Council. The registration list has been sent to Baghdad for vetting and approval. ¶9. (C/REL MCFI) COMMENT: Election preparations appear basically to be on track. However, having all ballots come through a seaport invites delay for getting the ballots distributed in a timely and secure fashion. USAID is considering funding an NGO that will conduct a "get out the vote" campaign. REO will continue to engage with the ISF commander for the province, General Mohammed and with the Chief of Police. Both have expressed to REO (Septels) the importance of providing adequate security. Some REO contacts have questioned Hazim's neutrality, in that he is perceived as tied to ISCI, but have also described him as fair and seem to be taking a wait and see attitude. The head of ISCI in Basrah told REO Director that Hazim is basically "their man." End Comment. HOWARD