VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGB #1746/01 1801314
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291314Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3725
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 001746 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/I AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM EAID IZ
SUBJECT: USG ASSISTANCE TO THE KRG ELECTIONS 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 1486 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (U)  This message is Sensitive but Unclassified; handle 
accordingly.  Not for distribution on the Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  With the official campaign season for KRG 
elections underway, elections programs sponsored by DRL and 
RRT Erbil are in full swing.  Our efforts aim to strengthen 
political parties, promote a widespread and informed civic 
dialogue on the elections, and bolster the ability of the 
Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to conduct 
public outreach.  Four DRL grantees are implementing these 
programs: the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the 
International Republic Institute (IRI), the International 
Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), and the Institute for 
War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).  RRT Erbil has been active in 
soliciting proposals for Quick Release Funds (QRF), which 
have already helped during the voter registration update 
process to enhance IHEC's outreach capabilities.  End summary. 
 
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Strengthening Political Parties 
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¶3. (SBU)  NDI and IRI have both been based in Erbil since 
2007 and have well-established relationships with parties 
competing in the KRG elections.  As the elections were 
originally scheduled for May 2009, both institutes have had 
the opportunity to conduct ample campaign and candidate 
training.  To prevent duplication, NDI works with the major 
parties, i.e., the KDP and PUK, as well as the Services and 
Reform Coalition (made up of KIU, KIG, DSP, and the Toilers), 
while IRI works with small and emerging parties such as 
Nawshirwan Mustafa's Change List, the Islamic parties, and 
the minority parties (Ref A).  The training conducted thus 
far has focused on campaign finance, strategic messaging, and 
get-out-the-vote (GOTV) training.  NDI has also provided 
technical assistance to help parties develop databases of 
party members. 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Many of the smaller parties in the KRG are not 
able to conduct polling, and there are no independent polls 
for them to use in developing their campaign messaging and 
deciding which areas of the region to target with intensified 
outreach.  Both NDI and IRI are currently conducting polls in 
the KRG for this purpose.  The results will not be made 
public, but will be shared with all parties participating in 
the elections as part of a series of trainings on strategic 
messaging. 
 
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Promoting Civic Dialogue 
------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Civil society and the press are more developed in 
the Kurdistan region than elsewhere in Iraq, but both remain 
largely influenced directly by political parties.  IREX and 
IWPR, the two DRL grantees focusing on the media, are 
providing training and small grants to both independent and 
party-affiliated outlets.  In addition to providing training 
to journalists on the basics of reporting on elections, IREX 
has solicited proposals from Kurdish media for small grants 
to produce televised debates, newspaper supplements, and 
radio interviews covering the elections.  IWPR conducts 
similar elections training, but will also be publishing a 
special daily edition of its METRO magazine and 20 broadcasts 
of an elections-focused radio show.  The magazine will serve 
as a forum for young journalists to write for a newspaper not 
affiliated with a party and to benefit from the tutoring of 
IWPR's highly-qualified editors.  IRI has established a media 
center in Erbil where they will be training candidates on 
speaking to the media and producing televised debates between 
the leaders of the different lists. 
Qthe leaders of the different lists. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Many of the programs DRL grantees are implementing 
with civil society will directly support our goals for the 
KRG elections. For example, NDI has worked for several years 
with the Kurdish NGO network Shams.  NDI is using the Shams 
network to train civil society representatives in poll 
monitoring.  On the day of the election, NDI-trained 
observers watch the vote tally in randomly selected polling 
centers and will report the tally from each station to a 
central operation center that will orchestrate this parallel 
vote tabulation.  The results will then be compared against 
the official results released by IHEC in Baghdad, with the 
aim of validating IHEC's numbers and boosting the election's 
credibility.  If this pilot project is successful, NDI will 
replicate it during the national elections. 
 
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Supporting IHEC 
--------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The Kurdistan Regional Election Office (KREO) -- a 
regional office of IHEC -- was slow to get started on public 
outreach programs for the voter registration update.  RRT 
Erbil and DRL grantees stepped in quickly to bolster the 
KREO's public outreach capacity.  RRT Erbil received three 
QRF micro-grants of just under $25,000 each.  The three 
identical projects will be implemented in each of the KRG 
provinces and will aim to educate voters on election 
procedures, spread information about the voter registration 
update, and decrease ballot spoilage.  The program includes 
newsletters and ten mobile teams that travel to remote areas 
in the KRG to engage directly with potential voters.  IRI 
created a public service announcement on the voter 
registration update, based on IHEC-produced materials that 
has aired on nearly all of the party-run stations in the KRG. 
 
 
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Comment 
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¶8.  (SBU)  Our current programming responds effectively to 
the needs of Kurdistan voters, parties, and the IHEC.  As one 
of our DRL grantee staff members who is based in Erbil told 
us recently, we are reaching the point where more USG-funded 
programming could over-saturate the parties and voters.  We 
will continue to monitor IHEC's public outreach efforts as 
they move forward and we will work with DRL grantees and RRT 
Erbil to react quickly to any additional need for assistance. 
 End Comment. 
HILL