JOURNALISTS ASSESS IRAQ'S PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000721

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: JOURNALISTS ASSESS IRAQ'S PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Steve Walker for Reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: Local and international media gave a
mixed press freedom grade to Iraq's January 31 provincial
elections. While many journalists cited the event as a
noteworthy step forward in the country's push toward greater
freedom of the press, they also complained that overly
restrictive policies on the part of the Independent High
Electoral Commission (IHEC) limited their ability to fully
cover the voting. Over 2,600 Iraqi journalists and more than
400 members of the international press corps visited the 78
polling sites IHEC opened to the media. Despite some
isolated reports of harassment and intimidation, overall we
received positive accounts from journalists who covered the
event and from local non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
who monitored it. End summary.


2. (SBU) Based on discussions with numerous Iraqi and
international journalists who visited polling sites on
Election Day, as well as with representatives from various
press freedom NGOs such as the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ),the Iraqi Journalist Rights Defending
Association (IRJDA),the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory
(JFO) and the DRL-funded International Research and Exchanges
Board (IREX) who monitored the event, the media had
unprecedented access to polling stations during the January
31 provincial elections. IHEC officially authorized over
2,600 local journalists and more than 400 international
members of the press to visit 78 specifically designated
polling sites throughout the country, including 16 in
Baghdad. According to one Iraqi journalist, only one polling
site was open to the press in the previous elections (held in
2005 to elect the Council of Representatives),leading him to
term these a "marked improvement." In addition, many of our
contacts report having been detained and held for days in
2005 when they attempted to enter polling sites. This time,
they were able to move freely from one location to the next
and had free access to IHEC officials and voters at each site.


3. (U) Two weeks before the elections, IHEC lifted a
requirement that all journalists covering the event sign a
binding 14-page code of conduct (http://www.ihec.iq/content
/file/cmc/cmc code conduct media elections en.pdf) published
by the Communications and Media Commission. Initially
required as a prerequisite to obtaining a press badge, the
document had caused a minor uproar among local and
international media alike and was only discarded after IHEC
received numerous complaints from members of the press. Our
journalist interlocutors expressed satisfaction that the code
was not instituted as a condition to covering the elections,
and recommended that in the future IHEC involve the press
corps in media-related decision-making at an early stage of
the planning process.


4. (SBU) Despite this generally positive assessment, there
were some complaints. Many journalists expressed frustration
with IHEC, complaining that the accrediting procedures were
cumbersome and IHEC officials nonresponsive to questions and
complaints. In addition, almost all of the reporters with
whom we spoke were upset about being restricted to
IHEC-designated polling sites. This lack of unfettered media
access "arouses suspicions" among the Iraqi public that the
voting might be rigged, according to one of our contacts.
Most journalists did not accept IHEC's assertion that the
restrictions were in place due to security concerns and plan
to lobby IHEC to eliminate these constraints for future
Qto lobby IHEC to eliminate these constraints for future
elections.


5. (SBU) We also received reports of isolated incidents of
harassment against the press. Many of these occurred on the
"special needs" voting day (January 28) when prisoners,
soldiers and the infirm were able to cast their vote. The
most widely reported occurrence took place at the Ministry of
Justice-run Minah prison in Basrah where approximately 15
cameramen attempted to film inmates casting their votes,
despite strict IHEC guidance prohibiting the photographing
of prisoners' faces. Guards responded with force, resulting
in some broken equipment. This was not the only alleged
occurrence of media press harassment, but our contacts doubt
that there was a coordinated GoI plan to disrupt media access
to polling sites.


6. (C) Comment: Although our local media contacts were
frustrated with their inability to visit any polling site of
their choice, they praised the process in general and were
hopeful that increased access on Election Day presaged a more
open approach in general by their government towards the
media. Iraq still has quite a distance to go on press
freedom, but our journalist contacts share our assessment
that the lack of any GOI targeted campaign to prevent the
press from doing its job during the provincial elections is a
positive step forward.

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