UNCLAS HELSINKI 001234

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/AND, WHA/USOAS, AND EUR/NB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL BO FI
SUBJECT: FINLAND: NO MONITORS FOR BOLIVIAN ELECTIONS

REF: SECSTATE 214591


1. (U) Poloff spoke with MFA desk officer for Bolivia
Anu-Vuori Kiikeri on November 28 about the rescheduled Dec.
18 elections. Kiikeri had just returned from a visit to La
Paz where she attended a meeting of EU ambassadors. She said
that Finland will not send election monitors to Bolivia.
Finland has already expended all available 2005 funds for
monitoring missions in Latin America and the Caribbean, and
the absence of a Finnish Embassy in La Paz makes any
bilateral monitoring mission all the more expensive and
logistically difficult.


2. (U) Kiikkeri told Poloff that she agreed with the
conventional wisdom that Evo Morales would win the election.
She said that she was less worried about the danger of fraud
or corruption during the election than the prospect that
Bolivia's legislature would refuse to certify Morales
afterward, sparking large-scale unrest and riots. Finland
will continue to monitor the situation through its Embassy in
Lima.
HYATT