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Welcome to Cluster 11 - Support to Electoral Process section of the UN Iraq Web Portal.

The purpose of this section is to provide information on activities related to Support to Electoral Process, undertaken by the United Nations and its partners. 

General information on the Cluster

Background:

In accordance with Security Council resolutions 1483, 1511 and 1546, the UN was requested to assist Iraq in establishing a representative government including the Transitional National Assembly and holding elections by 31 January 2005. It has been noted that a successful electoral process would require a nation-wide indigenous institution strongly supported with technical assistance by the international community. With support from UNDP and UNAMI, the electoral team was able to facilitate the creation of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) and implement a nation-wide nomination and selection process to appoint the Commissioners and Chief Electoral Officer of the IECI.  In addition to some $250 million allotted from the Iraqi National Budget for support to the electoral process, it is estimated that additional $176.5 million will be needed for preparing and holding the January 2005 elections.

Main Objectives of Cluster 11:

Providing support and technical assistance in the following areas: Establishing the electoral commission as an institution; Planning and preparation for of the elections; Training of Iraqis to become skilled electoral staff; Coordinating international technical assistance; and providing guidance towards assuring an inclusive, transparent and credible election, in accordance with international standards.

Ongoing Activities:

Establishment of the electoral administration. The UN was involved in the selection process for the electoral commissioners, who later attended three-week training in Mexico (June-July 04) which was hosted by the Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico (IFE). Training of senior officials from the National Elections Office took place successfully in Jordan, from 6 to 9 September. Fifteen Iraqi senior electoral officers were trained through UN support. IECI Recruitment of heads of governorate electorate officers is almost complete, including the Regional Electoral Officer for Kurdistan. Basra and Baghdad are still to be completed. IECI Offices received nation-wide support in establishing office space, furnishings and information technology. Induction for these officers was conducted on 26 September in Baghdad, with UN sponsored training in Jordan which took place from 27 to 30 September. Recruitment of senior trainers is under way. UN sponsored training of 30 core group of trainers is scheduled in Jordan from 1-7 November. The training will focus on voter registration operations. Additional operational training sessions for voter registration are scheduled in Baghdad and rest of the country and are to be completed by 20 October.

Regulatory framework. Many substantive regulations have been concluded: Voter registration regulation has been approved. Registration of political entities regulation in now finalised. Certification of candidate lists regulation is being finalised. Electoral Observation” regulation, including code of conduct for electoral observers has been finalised. Political entities agents’ regulation, including code of conduct for political entities’ agents has been finalised.

UN Trust Fund Projects:

To date the following projects have been approved and received funds from the UN trust fund:- 

1. Furnishing and providing IT equipment to headquarters of IECI and the governorate electoral offices. 

2. Training of Directors, heads of governorate offices and core group of trainers (budget $ 11.2 million)

3. Database centers for producing voters registry – contract  (budget  $ 15.7 million)

In the pipeline:-

4. Security contract for IECI members – contract (budget $ 10 million)

Partners of the Support to Electoral Process Cluster:

UNDP, UNAMI, UNOPS, UNESCO, IOM, UNCHR, UNIFEM, headed by United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (EAD)  

Cluster Manager: Hakam  Shahwan
E-mail address:  hakam.shahwan@undp.org 

Deputy Cluster Manager:  Jean-Paul Vogels
Email address: jpaul.vogels@undp.org

Documents
Library of Support to Electoral Process related information - containing repots, assessments and related information.

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