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 02 BAGHDAD 000075 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PNAT KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: ELECTION OBSERVER TEAM STILL AT WORK WHILE 
ELECTION COMMISSION DELAYS PUBLIC TALK ON COMPLAINTS 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 0065 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Robert S. Ford 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  The international monitoring team 
(IMIE) continues its post-election assessment work, 
and has decided that its building workload will 
require postponement of its preliminary report about 
January 14.  Partly as a result of this new date, the 
Iraqi election commission (IECI) has decided to 
postpone announcing the results of their own 
investigations into election complaints until after 
the Eid holiday that starts January 10 or 11.  The 
IMIE team appears to be well received by the political 
parties, with the Allawi team expressing satisfaction 
with the IMIE work as Allawi looks towards the work of 
forming a new government. End summary. 
 
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IMIE MOVES FORWARD WITH ITS POST-ELECTION ASSESSMENT 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶2. (C) The International Mission for Iraqi Elections 
(IMIE) has adjusted the timeline for presenting its 
preliminary report, with January 14 as the new target 
date.  In-country IMIE team coordinator Mazen Chouib 
told PolOff on January 9 that the team encountered 
more work than expected, and needed more time to pour 
over the piles of documents the team obtained from 
both the IECI and the various political parties they 
have met with during the past week.  Chouib insisted 
that the date change reflected the level of work; no 
one should expect any surprise findings or 
announcements on the 14th.  He also underlined that 
the IMIE's objective was to conduct an assessment of 
the complaints process and overall elections 
procedures, and not/not to conduct a post-election 
investigation.  He admitted that this type of work 
(i.e. a post-election assessment) was new territory 
for IMIE and is not contained in its charter. 
However, he expressed confidence that the team members 
have the requisite expertise to produce credible 
results within the coming weeks. 
 
¶3. (C) Chouib stated that the two Arab League members 
were particularly well-received by the political party 
leaders.  Identified simply as members of the Arab 
League with no mention of nationality, both team 
members, Disouki Abaza, an Egyptian and Head of the 
Arab Affairs Department, and Ali El Jaroche, a 
Lebanese and a Legal Advisor (also a former judge), 
have quickly gained the confidence of the Iraqis as 
well as the other IMIE team members.  Chouib said that 
the team has finished its meeting with all major and 
several smaller political parties, and will now focus 
on documentation review.  He revealed that although 
the team does not anticipate any new developments 
resulting from their assessment, the final report will 
likely contain recommendations for a revision of the 
IECI legal framework as well as a need for capacity 
building in order to address inherent deficiencies in 
IECI structure and operations. 
 
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IECI POSTPONES ANNOUNCING COMPLAINTS RESULTS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Earlier in the day, IECI International 
Commissioner Craig Jenness told PolOff that the IECI 
Board of Directors decided not to announce the final 
results of the complaint process at a press conference 
previously scheduled for January 9.  Instead, Jenness 
stated that the announcement will be postponed until 
after the Eid holidays and, hopefully, after the IMIE 
gives its preliminary report. 
 
¶5. (C) When Chouib learned about the postponement by 
the IECI, he told PolOff that he did not want the work 
of the IMIE to interfere in any way with the 
activities of the IECI, and assured that the IMIE will 
only take the minimum time necessary to complete their 
assessment.  (Comment: This timing is contrary to IECI 
previous statements that their timeline would remain 
independent from the IMIE timeline.  However, a slight 
delay of this announcement is politically more 
palatable and should provide for a more positive 
respite for all parties during Eid.  End comment.) 
Chouib estimated that IMIE should have a final report 
completed within two to three weeks, and that their 
preliminary report should be enough to address the 
concerns of the political parties on the fairness and 
objectivity of the election process. 
 
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ALLAWI CAMP OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE IMIE TEAM 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (C) On January 8, Ibrahim Al-Janabi, Chief of Staff 
to Dr. Ayad Allawi, told PolOffs and PolFSN that key 
members of MARAM had previously met with the IMIE team 
and provided them extensive documentation on election- 
related complaints (ref).  He explained that the 
information was presented to the team in four specific 
election-related stages: one month prior to the 
elections, the 24-hour media blackout period prior to 
election day, activities during election day, and 
actions during the period following the elections. 
 
¶7. (C) Al-Janabi expressed satisfaction with the level 
of expertise on the IMIE team, especially from the 
Arab League members, describing the team as good 
listeners.  He also stated that he does not see a need 
to re-run any parts of the election, and that the 
formation of government is paramount.  He also said 
that getting the violations on record by an 
independent body would be sufficient enough to move 
past the elections. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (C)  As noted ref, we sense that at least some of 
the groups arguing most loudly against in the election 
results are moderating their tone.  Meanwhile, the 
IECI Board of Directors is still not fully convinced 
about the need for the international IMIE group to 
conduct an assessment of the election's technical 
aspects.  However, the Board accepts the need for the 
IMIE assessment to act as a political tool to 
complement the apolitical technical work of the ICEI. 
The willingness of the IMIE team to craft an 
assessment process while giving due consideration to 
Iraqi political realities is refreshing and should go 
a long way to producing a useful final report. Post 
will monitor IMIE's progress closely to ensure that 
the timeline for its assessment does not expand, and 
to encourage IMIE to focus on its timeline. 
KHALILZAD