BASRA PROVINCIAL ELECTION A SUCCESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000007

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/20/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: BASRA PROVINCIAL ELECTION A SUCCESS

REF: A) BASRAH 0001; B) 2008 BASRAH 0081

BASRAH 00000007 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Mark O'Connor, Deputy Director, Regional Embassy
Office Basrah, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: In a February 11 meeting with the REO,
Governorate Electoral Office (GEO) Director Hazim Jodah
expressed satisfaction with his staff's performance during the
election and noted that representatives from various political
entities had expressed similar sentiments. He praised the Iraqi
Security Forces (ISF) for providing a safe environment for
voters and said he was content with the 50 percent voter
turnout, although that figure was much lower than generally
expected. He also addressed the highly-publicized problem of
name discrepancies on voter registration lists and dismissed
rumors of Iranian-backed malfeasance. End summary.

Pleased Overall
--------------


2. (C) Jodah said he was very pleased with the results of the
efforts of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC)
during the recent provincial elections. He characterized the
local election process in Basra as smooth and transparent,
adding that many political party leaders, including some with
disappointing results from the polls, had congratulated him on
IHEC's performance. Jodah was particularly impressed with the
ISF, which he praised for preventing security threats while
consistently applying the law. He related one story in which he
directed members of his staff to deliver a note to an IHEC
manager at a district polling center. Under Iraqi law, no paper
of any kind is allowed to enter or exit a polling center while
votes are being counted. Consequently, ISF prevented the IHEC
employees from entering the building. Although an inconvenience
to Jodah, he was impressed that the ISF had strictly enforced
the law.

Faulty Voter Registration
--------------


3. (C) While generally content, Jodah acknowledged one problem
that received considerable media attention. About 100 would-be
voters did not find their names on the voter registration list
when they appeared at polling stations to vote. Furthermore,
IHEC staff was required to deny several hundred additional
individuals access to the polls, because the names on their
identification documents did not exactly match the voter
registration list. While Jodah admitted that printing errors
may have been responsible for some of these cases, he believed
that most all of them were the fault of the individual. He
clarified that most of the public failed to verify their voter
registration information during the six-week summer registration
drive. (See reftel B) Had they done this, Jodah added, they
would have discovered any discrepancies. Jodah believed that a
fair number of people mistakenly thought they did not need to
verify the accuracy of their personal information on the
registration list in summer 2008, because they had done so in
2004 and 2005.

Fewer Complaints
--------------


4. (C) Jodah pointed out the remarkably low number of serious
complaints filed with IHEC on election day. Official complaint
forms were available at every polling station and yet IHEC
received just 544 complaints for well over half a million
voters. Jodah explained that of these complaints, only one
might have potentially affected the election results and it was
immediately investigated by the IHEC Board of Commissioners in
Baghdad. According to Jodah, the complainant, surprised at the
attention his actions had received, subsequently admitted he had
filed the bogus charge to harass the polling station manager for
personal reasons. The individual dropped the charges and IHEC
subsequently released that station's ballots for counting.
Virtually all of the remaining 543 complaints were related to
voter names either missing or varying from those on the
registration list.

Dismisses "Iranian" Rumors
--------------


5. (C) Jodah dismissed rumors that Iranians had switched
legitimate ballot boxes with fakes, loaded with counterfeit
votes. "These charges are silly," he exclaimed, adding that if
Iranians were fixing the election, ISCI's coalition "Al Shahid
Al Mihrab List and Independent Power" would have performed much
better. Jodah opined that claims of Iranian meddling didn't
make sense, as Iran would not have supported Prime Minister
Maliliki's State of Law coalition, which was the clear winner.
He pointed out the many fraud-prevention mechanisms in place to

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prevent such a scenario, including observers at all 3,673
provincial polling stations and strict accountability of all
election materials.


6. (C) Jodah hypothesized that the "ballot box" rumor
originated from the arrest of a man traveling with various IHEC
forms in his vehicle. Jodah said when police contacted him and
described the seized boxes, he immediately recognized them as
boxes of IHEC forms 141, 142, and 143, which are used for
recording vote tallies. The supposed "ballot boxes," he said,
were made of cardboard and did not resemble ballot boxes at all.
The police released the man after receiving Jodah's
information. [Comment: Several REO contacts have recounted
this rumor during meetings, believing it to be true. End
comment.]


7. (C) Jodah also commented that representatives from 15
political entities held a press conference on February 10,
demanding a recount of the vote. The representatives, almost
none of whom gained as much as a single seat on the Provincial
Council, insisted that fraud was involved because the
preliminary election results did not match their expectations.
(Subject of Septel.)


8. (C) Comment: Jodah's prediction of an election day absent
of large-scale fraud and violence came to fruition. (See reftel
A.) Complaints were minimal and not a single incidence of
violence was reported. Jodah, along with the ISF, deserves most
of the credit for this success. Throughout pre-election
preparations, Jodah was extremely attentive and conscientious.
He recognized the importance of the voter registration period
and when turnout was unacceptably low, he launched a major
registration drive and extended the period an additional two
weeks. Despite increased registration, turnout in Basra was
still relatively disappointing. We believe that moving the
registration date closer to the actual election would have
increased public participation by taking advantage of the
enthusiasm sparked by election campaigning. End comment.
O'CONNOR