GHOR: ALL ELECTIONERRING IS LOCAL

UNCLAS KABUL 001665

DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, SCA/FO, SCA/A, EUR/RPM
STATE PASS TO AID FOR ASIA/SCAA
USFOR-A FOR POLAD

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM PGOV AF
SUBJECT: GHOR: ALL ELECTIONERRING IS LOCAL


1. (SBU) As the election campaign in Ghor kicks off, Governor Sayed
Iqbal Munib appears to be campaigning for President Karzai. Munib
began a flurry of travel throughout the province in early June,
visiting three districts in 10 days, twice with Lithuanian PRT
members. According to PRT officers, Independent Election Commission
(IEC) and UNAMA officials, his appeals vary from soft reminders that
people should remember the people "who are in government and helping
you now" to direct mentions of Karzai - though these direct appeals
have been out of earshot of press or PRT officials.


2. (SBU) Coordination between the governor's office and the IEC on
security matters is moving slowly. The governor's office appears to
be avoiding the IEC, shrugging off IEC and PRT suggestions to
convene a meeting between the IEC and Afghan NATIONAL SECURITY
Forces to work out a provincial SECURITY plan. For several weeks,
Munib has promised that a plan would be agreed upon, but as of June
23 no official meetings have been held to discuss the issue.


3. (SBU) There has been little Provincial COUNCIL campaign activity
thus far. Other than standard IEC election posters and the
occasional picture of PC candidates in car windshields, there are
few visual reminders that it is election season. More than half of
Ghor's PC members (8 of 15) are not running for re-election. Two of
them told PRT officer that their experience as PC members was
unsatisfying, and felt that they lacked real authority. They
complained that it was their job to listen to peoples' problems and
work with the governor to resolve them, but that the governor rarely
came through and it was the PC that had to deliver the bad news to
their constituents.


4. (SBU) PRT officer has heard chatter among local residents and
election officials anticipating that some PC candidates will
mobilize people from their districts to interfere with the voting
and ballot counting on election day to secure a victory, but there
has been no concrete evidence of fraud thus far. More than one
Provincial COUNCIL candidate has pressured the provincial election
official (PEO) to get friends appointed as District Field
Coordinators (DFC),who are theoretically charged with preventing
fraud. One PC Candidate, Mohammad Sharif Ramuzi, even went over the
Ghor PEO's head and lobbied the IEC headquarters in Kabul for a
special appointment. He couched his request as a complaint that no
Hazaras were chosen as DFCs in Ghor. However, the friend he
recommended for DFC had failed his interview - and was not Hazara
himself. It appears that the IEC has held firm so far in the face
of pressure, at both the local and NATIONAL levels.


5. (U) The administrative work of the local IEC office appears on
track to hire civic society educators and election STAFF and is
finalizing its district field coordinators. The Ghor PEO, who is
competent and engaged, reports that communications equipment are
adequate.

EIKENBERRY