ELECTIONS UPDATE

UNCLAS KABUL 001210 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR WOOD OSD FOR SHIVERS CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-101 POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV AF KDEM SUBJECT: ELECTIONS UPDATE ¶1. (SBU) Although Karzai and the opposition United Front agreed April 9 to separate presidential and parliamentary elections, the National Assembly's lower house has yet to pass the elections law, which would provide the necessary legal basis for an elections calendar. The National Assembly recesses from June 4 until July 21. We continue to press the lower house leadership to pass the elections law prior to its recess. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has begun planning for mid-August 2009 presidential elections, which would allow for a run-off, if necessary, before winter weather. The IEC has set, rather vaguely, summer 2010 as the window for National Assembly and district council elections. ¶2. (SBU) Next to passage of the elections law, voter registration is the most pressing elections preparation challenge. A struggling UNDP has not yet released a donor support request to fund registration. UNDP tells us it plans to augment its elections support staff. The IEC hopes to register voters in the northern half of the country from August 1 to September 30 and, in the southern provinces, from October 1 to November 30. The Policy Action Group's (PAG) Security Operations Group approved this schedule on May 3. That decision will have to be endorsed by the president. Karzai may worry that inadequate security in the south would deny his Pashtun base sufficient opportunity to register. ¶3. (SBU) Karzai appointed May 15 five new commissioners to the seven-person IEC board. The commissioners' mandates had expired January 18 and their lack of legitimacy threatened to undermine the IEC's authority. We are watching the National Assembly to see if it will assert a right of review over Karzai's IEC appointments, which might distract them from elections planning and preparations. WOOD