This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 004987 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2015 
TAGS: PNAT PGOV PTER KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: ELECTION UPDATE: SPECIAL VOTING, KIRKUK  DECISION, 
AND COMPLAINTS 
 
REF: KIRKUK 00276 
 
Classified By: Classified by Political Counselor Robert S. Ford for 
reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The election has officially begun 
with special voting on December 12 for Iraqi Security 
Forces (ISF), detainees, and hospital patients. 
Logistically, the IECI is on track for a successful 
election day on December 15.  In other developments, 
the IECI has publicly announced that -- to rectify its 
earlier action that removed 81,000 names from the list 
of voter rolls in Kirkuk -- it will allow all those 
included in the deleted 81,000 to vote if they present 
proper documentation at the polls (reftel).  (See 
septel for a report on an additional and inadvertent 
omission of voter names which the IECI has resolved 
without publicity.)  Complaints to the IECI, primarily 
about unfair campaigning practices, have officially 
passed 100 and promise to soar above this number come 
election time.  End Summary. 
 
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VOTING STARTED ON DECEMBER 12 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Special voting for ISF, detainees, and 
hospitalized voters took place on December 12; initial 
reports so far have been positive.  The IECI estimates 
that over 250,000 voters comprised of 22,000 detainee 
voters, 19,000 hospitalized voters, and over 200,000 
ISF voters were eligible to vote.  As of early evening 
December 12, the IECI reports that almost all of the 
polling centers scheduled to handle special voting 
have opened.  However, a handful of polling centers 
did not open because the numbers of patients or ISF 
had fallen below the threshold number required to open 
a polling center.  The IECI reports 87 percent turnout 
of eligible detainee voters in Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca, 
and Suse. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Ballots for these voters go to the Tally 
Center in Baghdad, where they will be mixed in and 
counted on December 16 with all other national ballots 
from the International Zone. 
 
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IECI CLARIFIES KIRKUK POLICY ON VOTER ROLLS 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) On December 11, the IECI released a press 
statement explaining its final decision to delete 
81,000 from the Kirkuk voter rolls (reftel) and its 
proposed remedy.  This clarification followed a series 
of reports (including previous IECI press releases) 
that the IECI had removed between 45,000 and 86,000 
registered voters from the rolls.  The latest 
statement reports that after investigating unusual 
increases in Kirkuk registration, the IECI found that 
many of the suspicious Kirkuk registration forms 
carried the same signature and cited the exact same 
identity document, while other registration forms 
lacked signatures as well as sufficient proof of 
identity.  This discovery led to the decision to 
strike all the names.  In the December 11 statement, 
the IECI listed the centers that had been affected by 
this deletion and stated that voters who have been 
erroneously deleted from these lists would still be 
able to vote on December 15 if they bring their copy 
of the registration form (otherwise known as Form 91) 
as well as an ID.  If the potential voter does not 
have the proof of registration, then two forms of ID 
will be required.  The IECI is undertaking a public 
affairs campaign to inform the voters of Kirkuk of 
this remedy.  (Comment:  giving voters the chance to 
bring two identity documents and vote will open the 
process up to complaints from the Arabs and Turkmen 
who will suspect Kurdish fraud.  Striking all 80,000 
names would have infuriated the Kurds.  End Comment.) 
 
¶5. (C) In other news, the IECI reports that it has 
corrected a general voter roll glitch that threatened 
to delete over 600,000 eligible voters from the voter 
rolls across Iraq.  This mistake, detected by IECI 
Kirkuk, caused much tension by those who perceived the 
error to be directed at the Kurdish community. 
Chairman Izadin al-Mohammady told Poloff on December 
13 that IECI representatives and Commissioners, 
including International Commissioner Craig Jenness, 
met with President of the Kurdistan Regional government 
Ma'sud Barzani earlier that day to explain this error 
and smooth over any sensitivities (septel). 
 
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COMPLAINTS 
---------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) On December 11, Michael Clegg from the 
International Elections Assistance Team (IEAT) briefed 
the international community about the complaint 
process.  Complaints can be delivered in one of three 
ways: via email, at polling centers during voting day, 
and at IECI offices throughout the country.  All 
complaints are forwarded to the complaints office at 
IECI headquarters in Baghdad, which will immediately 
triage the complaint into one of two categories: red 
or green. Red complaints are those which if shown to 
be valid, could affect the outcome of the elections. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Once the complaints are triaged, they are 
assigned to a lawyer case officer who is responsible 
for the investigation and resolution of the complaint. 
When enough evidence is gathered to make a 
recommendation, the complaint and recommendation are 
forwarded to the Board who by law makes the final 
decision. 
 
¶8. (C) During the January 30 elections, the IECI 
received a total of 400-450 complaints.  Of those 
complaints, roughly six were red complaints, and over 
two hundred were related to Out-of-Country voting. 
During the October 15 referendum, approximately 140 
complaints were received, with just a few red 
complaints.  However, even with less than 200, the 
IECI has only just now finished processing all 
complaints relating to the referendum.  On December 
11, Poloff talked with Ali al-Jabr, director of the 
Complaints Office, to understand why processing 
complaints for the referendum took almost two months. 
Jabr noted that much of the bottleneck lies with the 
Board, which requires a quorum to make a decision on 
each complaint.  Jabr did note, however, that red 
complaints (which could potentially affect when 
election results are announced) are often swiftly 
resolved. 
 
¶9. (C) Jabr reported that the IECI is expecting 
between 1000 and 2000 complaints for this election, 
and has been preparing accordingly.  Six new lawyers 
from the Baghdad Bar Association have been contracted 
to assist the incumbent five lawyers with workload, 
and four members of the international team will now be 
supervising triage and investigation teams.  Jabr also 
told Poloff that the internal complaints office 
processes had been improved, but the largest hurdle 
would still be Commissioner decision-making. 
 
¶8. (C) Over 100 complaints had been received to date 
relating to the elections.  The majority of these 
complaints relate to campaigning practices.  On 
December 8, PolOff spoke with Chief Electoral Officer 
Adil Allami to urge quick resolution of and response 
to incoming complaints.  PolOffs repeated this message 
to IECI Chairman Izadin al-Mohammady on December 12. 
Al-Mohammady told PolOffs that very few of the 
complaints were accompanied by sufficient evidence to 
merit action.  Many complaints, he said, were 
descriptions of violations without an indication of 
who was promoting such action.  During this meeting, 
PolOffs stressed to the Chairman the importance of 
responding quickly and comprehensively to 
complainants, even if no action would be taken. 
 
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COMMENTS 
-------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) With only two days to go, all IECI 
commissioners save the OCV coordinator are now back in 
the country to prepare for the elections.  Logistics 
planning is still going according to schedule, and 
final adjustments are being made to ensure everything 
is ready for December 15.  Meanwhile, the 
international team as well as the Complaints Office 
are waiting to see how election day complaints will 
affect the timing of the announcement of results.  The 
press release deleting Kirkuk voter names from the 
rolls promises to remain a contentious issue with both 
Turks and Kurds, and most likely will result in some 
complaints come election day. 
 
 
KHALILZAD 
KHALILZAD