Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAGHDAD186
2009-01-25 17:42:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

PRT DIYALA: LOCAL TECHNOCRATS HOPE NATIONAL

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4605
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0186/01 0251742
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 251742Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1379
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000186 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: PRT DIYALA: LOCAL TECHNOCRATS HOPE NATIONAL
SECTARIAN PARTIES DON'T WIN PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS

Classified By: PRT George White for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

(U) This is a PRT Diyala reporting cable.


C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000186

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: PRT DIYALA: LOCAL TECHNOCRATS HOPE NATIONAL
SECTARIAN PARTIES DON'T WIN PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS

Classified By: PRT George White for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

(U) This is a PRT Diyala reporting cable.



1. (C) SUMMARY: In a series of meetings about upcoming
provincial council (PC) elections with poloff January 19-21,
local professionals and government officials in Diyala
emphatically denounced incumbent national religious parties
and politicians in the province, believing them corrupt and
incapable of acting in the public interest. In discussions
on upcoming provincial elections with poloff, Sunni, Shi'a,
and Kurdish local-level politicians and technocrats uniformly
expressed a strong aversion to sectarian candidates for the
provincial council (PC); they prefer technocrats who have the
skills and commitment to improve basic services and the local
economy. Many cited the large number of political entities
registered to run in the Diyala elections as a further sign
of the public's dislike of incumbent sectarian politicians.
While our interlocutors' motivation for condemning large
sectarian parties may be self-interested, their remarkable
vehemence and the cross ethnic/sectarian unity on this issue
could indicate a significant trend in Iraqi politics. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) Visiting Poloff met with a number of local
government officials and professionals in the Diyala
provincial towns of Muqdadiya, Hibhib, and Khalis, as well as
Ba'aqubah, the provincial capital, January 19-21. In
wide-ranging discussions about preparations for the
provincial elections in Diyala, these officials conveyed deep
dislike for religious parties in the province.

--------------
SECTARIAN PARTIES CONDEMNED
--------------


3. (C) Yarob Al Qaysi, the Sunni Arab Mudeer (city manager)
of Hibhib, told us in a meeting at his office on January 20
that he dislikes all Islamic political parties:
Tawafuq/Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP),Da'wa, and the Islamic
Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI). He claimed that the people
of Hibhib, a nahiya (metropolitan area) of 80,000 (13,000 in
the city of Hibhib itself),do not like religious parties,
and that people prefer individuals who are running without a

party affiliation. He said he thought that specifically IIP,
ISCI, and Da'wa politicians would engage in some form of
electoral fraud to protect their positions on the PC. He
claimed that 50 per cent of people in Hibhib do not want to
vote because sectarian parties have disappointed them.


4. (C) Najem Abdullah Al Harvey, the Sunni Arab Qaimaqam
(mayor) of Muqdadiya, and Shaker Al Aqba, a Shi'a Muqdadiya
city council member, agreed in a meeting at the Muqdadiya
city council lon January 19 that people don't want sectarian
politicians in government anymore. (NOTE: Muqdadiya is the
second largest city in Diyala (population 250,000 ). END
NOTE.) Shaker contended that people would vote for
candidates based on personality or administrative ability
more than on religious affiliation.


5. (C) Arkan Hussan Abdullah, a Sunni Arab attorney with
the Ministry of Electricity in Diyala's provincial capital of
Ba'aqubah, declared in a meeting at PRT Diyala January 21
"there is no honesty in the elections in Diyala. IIP and
Da'wa have discouraged people, and very few will go to vote."

-------------- --
"BIG" PARTIES BENEFITTING UNDULY FROM ELECTIONS
-------------- --


6. (C) Salaam Jawad Kazim, the Hibhib City Council Chair and
Q6. (C) Salaam Jawad Kazim, the Hibhib City Council Chair and
a Shi'a, said in a meeting on January 20 at the Hibhib City
Council that he also prefers non-sectarian parties. He added
that the provincial elections favor "big" parties such as
Tawafuq and Da'wa. He also worried that corruption in Diyala
would continue after the elections because the big parties
would win a majority of seats again. Asserting that larger
parties had stronger financial support * a sign of campaign
fraud and corruption, not popularity, he said * he thought
that small local parties would lose out because they cannot
compete financially.


7. (C) Adil Hashimi, a Sunni Arab attorney in Ba'aqubah,
echoed this sentiment on January 21 in a meeting at the PRT.
He complained that influential political parties have
"divided voters' allegiances among themselves," adding that
the small parties "have no chance." Adil does not trust the
influential parties, and maintained that the smaller, less
influential parties cannot compete with them.

BAGHDAD 00000186 002 OF 002



--------------
THE PEOPLE WANT TECHNOCRATS
--------------


8. (C) Haidar Jowad Abid, the Shi'a interim Qaimaqam of
Khalis, a city of 45,000, suggested to poloff in a January 20
meeting at his office in Khalis that people in Khalis are
tired of sectarian division, and may not vote for their own
tribal sheikhs or sectarian parties who are campaigning. He
thinks people will likely vote for whomever they think will
improve services in Diyala, regardless of sect or ethnicity.


9. (C) Mohammed Jaleel, the Diyala Director for the Ministry
of Displaced persons, repeated Haidar's opinion. He said
that people wanted technocrats in the PC, rather than
religiously-affiliated leaders. He noted that people will no
longer necessarily vote by sect or even tribe as they did in
2005*they want leaders who can effectively provide services.
He presented himself as an example, saying that he is a Kurd
who will vote for a Shi'a candidate (and gave to us the
impression he was doing something novel).

--------------
NATIONAL PARTIES HAVE TOO MUCH INFLUENCE
--------------


10. (C) Amer Latif Mujid is Diyala's Governorate Elections
Officer (GEO),the Iraqi Independent High Electoral
Commission's (IHEC) chief representative in the province. A
Sunni Arab from Diyala, Amer feared that IHEC was losing its
independence due to big national parties interfering in the
commission. He noted that officials connected with the
Tawafuq, ISCI, Da'wa, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),and
Fadhila parties all had positions in IHEC, and each wanted
input on all hiring decisions, "down to hiring the janitor."
Amer thinks the big parties are endangering IHEC's
independence, and that their actions are interfering in its
operation rather than balancing and cancelling out each
others' interests.

--------------
TOO MANY CANDIDATES
--------------


11. (SBU) Many of our interlocutors stated that there were
too many candidates and political entities running in Diyala.
All saw the high number of candidates as complicating and
confusing the elections, although some credited the high
number to the Sunni's embrace of the 2009 elections and
dissatisfaction with incumbent PC members and their
predominantly sectarian backgrounds. (NOTE: Of the current
41 PC members in Diyala, 34 align themselves with
religious/national parties such as IIP or the Shiite United
Iraqi Alliance (ISCI/Da'wa). END NOTE.)

--------------
COMMENT: AXE-GRINDING OR POLITICAL TREND?
--------------


12. (C) These contacts, who are primarily urban, educated
people in positions with significant responsibility, may have
an inherent bias, and Diyalans more broadly may not fully
share their sentiments. Most of these contacts think that
the current PC is ineffective at best, and may be associating
their own discontent with the incumbents with popular
rejection of the religious orientation of the incumbents'
parties. They may also have been telling us what they think
we want to hear.


13. (C) This election will help us assess the validity of
our interlocutors' claims that "the people" of Diyala no
longer want their politics leavened with religion. Despite
our contacts' insistence that religion now plays a less
prominent role in public life in Diyala, Ashura flags still
line country roads outside Muqdadiya, and snap in the wind
Qline country roads outside Muqdadiya, and snap in the wind
next to Iraqi national flags outside Ba'aqubah. Large canvas
banners of Ali decorate the approach to the Khalis Qaimaqam's
office; and campaign posters in the province feature photos
of religious leaders. But the intensity and consistency of
their opinions--across geographical, confessional, and ethnic
backgrounds--suggests that a potentially significant segment
of the electorate could transfer its support to parties that
would challenge religious and other large national parties.
END COMMENT.
CROCKER