ISCI COURTING BABIL'S SCHOOL-AGED VOTERS

UNCLAS HILLAH 000064 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR IZ IR SUBJECT: ISCI COURTING BABIL'S SCHOOL-AGED VOTERS REF: HILLAH 00062 ¶1. (U) This is a PRT Babil cable. ¶2. (U) The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq's (ISCI) latest campaign venture in Babil province is the Safwa ("Pure") Gathering. This organization focuses its efforts at college and secondary-school students who are nearing or have recently entered the voting-aged ranks. (Note: Voter eligibility age will be defined by the draft elections law currently in the Council of Representatives, and will require having reached 18 years of age in either the month or year in which the elections take place. End Note.) Predominantly active at Babil University, the Safwa leadership has spent the past two months organizing its ranks of next-generation voters. ¶3. (U) ISCI regional slate coordinator Sayyid Shihab al-Yassiri (aka Hafud al-Yassiri) [reftel] held a conference at the Babil Labor Union convention center, adjacent to the Badr Office Headquarters, on June 21 to further the Safwa Gathering's efforts. In attendance were Babil Governor Salam Salih al-Mahdi al-Muslimawi, ISCI and Badr officials, and more than one hundred college students. ¶4. (U) While secondary school students prepare their late June final examinations, the ISCI leaders distributed files containing examinations from previous years. Although these files are regularly available for purchase at local markets, rarely are they distributed for free by politicians. Even more uncommon is the cover page on the version distributed by the Safwa Gathering - photographs of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, and Ayatollah Sayid Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim. YANAWAY