Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04SANTODOMINGO2937
2004-05-14 22:04:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Santo Domingo
Cable title:  

DOMINICAN ELECTION #50: OBSERVERS - MUCHOS OJOS

Tags:  PGOV PHUM DR 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 002937 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/PPC AND DRL
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON
LABOR FOR ILAB
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH
DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN ELECTION #50: OBSERVERS - MUCHOS OJOS


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 002937

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/PPC AND DRL
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON
LABOR FOR ILAB
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH
DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN ELECTION #50: OBSERVERS - MUCHOS OJOS



1. (U) This is no. 50 in our series on the Dominican
presidential election:

ELECTION OBSERVERS - MUCHOS OJOS

We expect as many as 250 international observers, including
160 associated with the OAS Electoral Observation Mission, to
be in the Dominican Republic to monitor the presidential
voting and computation of returns on May 16. Some 26 foreign
countries will be represented, including 15 OAS member
states. Nearly all our contacts expect and welcome the
international presence. Opposition parties and civil society
groups want reassurance that the process is free, fair and
transparent; Dominican Government authorities want an
imprimatur on their management of the electoral process to
help convince the public to accept the results. Some 6500
Dominican observers organized and trained by the USAID-funded
NGO "Participacion Ciudadana" (Citizens' Participation) will
greatly extend the reach of the electoral observation across
the country.

The international observers include the following who are
receiving credentials from the Central Election Board (JCE):

-- 39 who comprise the OAS mission, funded by Canada, the
United States, and the European Union, led by OAS expert
Santiago Murray and accompanied by Deputy Secretary General
Luigi Einaudi;

-- diplomatic volunteers from local embassies and missions,
including about 50 from the Embassy, who have received JCE
and OAS credentials and will assist the OAS mission;

-- 25 who comprise a mission of the International Foundation
for Election Systems (IFES),funded by the private sector
here and in the United States and led by former Colombian
president Andres Pastrana;

-- some 32 NGO representatives from 7 or 8 countries,
including 5 Lima Accord countries, organized by the National
Democratic Institute (NDI),financed partly by the OAS and
partly by NDI;

-- 3 from the Carter Center, financed by the OAS and
integrated into the OAS mission;

-- 36 members of electoral tribunals and commissions from
countries of the Tikal Protocol and similar regional
agreements and CAPEL (secretariat of the Tikal Protocol),

sponsored by their governments and the JCE; and

-- diplomats from locally accredited embassies and missions
(up to 2 from each mission, including from this Embassy the
Ambassador and DCM); and

-- delegates from member parties of the Socialist
International and possibly others in the region.

The OAS mission is providing the main thrust of the
international observer effort and will coordinate with the
other observer entities. The OAS has deployed field
coordinators nationwide in ll regions including the capital;
the coordinators will supervise other OAS observers and the
diplomatic volunteers. OAS experts on electoral data
processing, logistics, and legal matters will cover relevant
units at JCE headquarters and elsewhere as needed. A core
OAS group, which arrived May 3, will remain until May 21 or
as long as necessary to ensure that all serious challenges or
disputes have been resolved. The OAS has briefed the
diplomatic volunteers on observation procedures and
guidelines. The volunteers will visit polling stations
(colegios electorales) in the morning (starting at 6:00 a.m.)
and late afternoon (before the 6:00 p.m. closing),observe
the counting of ballots at a station, accompany the transfer
of the voting tally sheets (actas) to municipal election
boards, and observe the scanning of the tallies into the
JCE's computer network. Some of the volunteers will gather
samples for the OAS's planned "quick count" estimate of the
returns, which will be communicated to the JCE prior to its
announcement of official results.

"Participacion Ciudadana" (PC),providing domestic observers
for the fifth election since 1996, will deploy approximately
6500 trained Dominican personnel on May 16, organized in 165
regional and local observer teams linked to a five-person
operations center. They will operate independently, but in
coordination with, the international observers, and will
produce a "quick count" using a different methodology from
the OAS -- more time-consuming, but with a narrower margin of
error. PC's permanent staff since last year has monitored
election preparations, campaigners' behavior, and political
advertising, issued detailed weekly bulletins about
developments, and advocated substantive discourse by the
candidates. PC has also assisted the JCE with recruitment
and training of qualified poll workers. After the election,
PC will assess the reliability of the computer processing of
the vote count and the overall election process and take
appropriate action with regard to any post-election
difficulties.

The observers from U.S.-based NGOs (IFES, NDI, and Carter
Center) will operate with varying degrees of autonomy. The
IFES mission will operate independently in Santo Domingo and
the provinces, in consultation with the OAS to avoid
unnecessary duplication, and will concentrate on technical
aspects of the election. The NDI group of NGO reps will
accompany "Participation Ciudadana" to learn how to organize
and conduct domestic election observation, for the purpose of
organizing similar efforts in their home countries. The
Carter Center representatives will be integrated into the OAS
observer mission. The Carter Center "mediator" as needed is
Arturo Valenzuela, who helped negotiate the agreement that
ended a crisis during the 1994 Dominican elections and
resulted in a truncated two-year term for former president
Joaquin Balaguer. Valenzuela arrives on Sunday, so he will
meet with candidates and other players on election day.
Shelley McConnell, senior associate director of the Carter
Center, will accomnpany OAS Deputy SYG Einaudi, and historian
Jonathan Hartlyn, a prominent expert on the Dominican
Republic, will complete the center's contingent.


2. (U) Drafted by Bainbridge Cowell.


3. (U) This report and others in our election series can be
read on the SIPRNET at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ index.cfm along
with extensive other current material.
HERTELL