ISCI PALYING FOR TIME AS DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000026

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/7/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINR IZ
SUBJECT: ISCI PALYING FOR TIME AS DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR NEW
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

REF: HILLAH 0017

CLASSIFIED BY: Kenneth Hillas, PRT Leader, Babil PRT, Dept of
State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Governor Salim Saleh Al-Muslimawi (ISCI) is expected to
delay convening of the new Provincial Council (PC) as long as
possible, using this time to try to pry away individual members
of the Da'wa-led coalition and deny it a majority, according to
Abu Ahmed Al-Basri, Babil Da'wa party leader and incoming PC
member. The old PC has not met for a month and the Governor has
abdicated his normal administrative responsibilities during this
time, creating a sense of drift. The Governor is required to
convene the new and old council members together by April 10.


2. (C) Abu Ahmed told us that The State of Law slate had
concluded its coalition partnership agreement on March 30 with
Ahrar (Sadrists),The Iraqi Commission for NGOs (Iskander
Witwit's slate) and Dr. Al-Ja'fari's National Reform Trend.
There are 17 votes in the coalition out of a total of 30 Council
seats. The agreement stipulates that State of Law will choose
the governor and the PC chair's deputy and assistants. The
Sadrists will choose the PC chair (possibly Kadum Majid Tooman),
Witwit (a former Governor) will be Deputy Governor, and the
National Reform Trend will pick the second deputy governor.
Da'wa interprets the agreement as allowing them to pick an
independent outside the ranks of the newly-elected PC members
for the governor's position. This is reportedly the Prime
Minister's (PM) preference, according to Abu Ahmed, who made
clear that PM Mailiki is having a strong role in choosing the
next governor.


3. (C) Abu Ahmed told us they expect to name the new governor
within five days of the first meeting of the new council. He
also told us that State of Law offered ISCI the opportunity to
participate in negotiations in forming a new provincial
government but it refused. Hassan Kamoona, head of the
provincial Badr Organization and new PC member, claims ISCI has
a 15- seat bloc (half the PC),comprised of ISCI,
ISCI-affiliated slates and Allawi's Iraqi National List which
was formerly believed in coalition with the Rule of Law slate
(reftel). If this were accurate it would deny the State of Law's
coalition the needed votes to choose the governor and others.
Da'wa has refuted these claims, and a senior Da'wa official told
us that Governor Al-Muslimawi continues to hold onto the wish
that he can remain in office somehow. That appears very
unlikely, but Da'wa's majority depends on several small parties
and individual PC members may be subject to ISCI pressures or
other means of persuasion.

HILLAS