Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05KINSHASA1658
2005-10-04 15:01:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kinshasa
Cable title:  

ELECTION UPDATE

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM KPKO CG 
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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 KINSHASA 001658 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KPKO CG
SUBJECT: ELECTION UPDATE

Classified By: Ambassador Roger Meece. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001658

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KPKO CG
SUBJECT: ELECTION UPDATE

Classified By: Ambassador Roger Meece. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).


1. (U) The Election Steering Committee (Comite de Pilotage)
met October 3 to review the status of election preparations
and the general electoral calendar. Committee membership
includes Chief of Mission representation from donors, UN
agency heads, technical support staff, and senior GDRC
officials. The meeting was chaired by the UN Acting SRSG
Ross Mountain. The Ambassador attended for the U.S. Mission;
GDRC representatives included the Minister of Defense, Vice
Ministers of Interior and Budget, and the President of the
Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). EU Special Envoy
Aldo Ajello also attended the session.

Voter Registration
--------------


2. (U) The CEI president provided an updated voter
registration chart showing that slightly over 14.7 million
have registered through October 2. Particular improvement
was reported from the previous summary report in Eastern and
Western Kasai provinces, and in North Kivu. Of the planned
total of 9,090 registration centers, 1,813 are not yet open,
mostly in Equateur and Bandundu provinces where registration
just got underway September 25. Hundreds of other
registration centers are still operating in nine provinces.
A handout was distributed detailing remaining needs to deploy
people and materials to open the remaining centers, including
helicopter support not yet scheduled, vehicles, diesel fuel,
gas, bicycles, and motorcycles. The UN reported some
mechanical/technical difficulties with helicopters currently
being utilized, and made an appeal for any additional air
support that could be provided. The UN and CEI expressed
particular thanks to Belgium for arranging for extraordinary
assistance provided last week by a Belgian Air Force C-130
sent to supplement existing efforts to deploy registration
materials and personnel.


3. (SBU) Looking ahead, the CEI presented a schedule that
calls for the opening of the last registration centers no
later than October 23. CEI President Malu Malu explained
that the CEI is now conducting a center-by-center review
which will provide further details regarding specific areas.

In addition, mobile registration centers continue to operate
to address specific requirements, as will be the case through
the remainder of the registration exercise. Under the
current timeline the CEI is planning to close the last of the
registration centers, in essence closing voter registration,
by November 13.

Financing
--------------


4. (SBU) UNDP presented an updated election financing chart
for both the CEI election budget, currently estimated at
roughly USD 270 million, and the related election "security"
budget, set at roughly USD 48.6 million. The latter sum is
fully covered by pledges from European government (the
European Union plus individual country pledges) totaling USD
57.8 million to-date.


5. (SBU) UNDP reported pledges totaling USD 276.6 million
have now been registered, in theory fully covering the CEI
budget. The total, however, includes a new pledge of USD 20
million from the GDRC, in addition to the USD 20 million
already promised. (Note: The original USD 20 million GDRC
pledge includes USD 7.2 million from French designated
budgetary support funds. End Note.) The Ambassador asked
the GDRC Budget Vice Minister to confirm the additional
pledge. He affirmed that the government intends to earmark
an additional USD 20 million from the CY 2006 budget. In
reviewing the figures, including promised GDRC monies, the
UNDP did emphasize that while the pledge total looks
promising, there are remaining serious "cash flow" concerns.

Election Calendar
--------------


6. (C) Based on the current voter registration schedule, the
CEI presented a revised time line leading to a required
Constitutional referendum. Key dates include an October 29
closing date to arrange for purchase of goods and printing
contracts, assembly of "voting center" kits for polling
stations between October 28 and November 14 (excluding voter
registration lists). Distribution of kits to train election
personnel is to be completed to 64 "liaison offices" by
November 20, and subsequent distribution to roughly 200
"territorial centers" by December 3. A full deployment
schedule and logistics plan for deployment of voting kits to
the roughly 40,000 planned polling stations was also
outlined, using MONUC and commercial fixed wing aircraft,
MONUC and commercial helicopters, and ground vehicles and
boats, all to be completed by December 16.


7. (C) The CEI plans to complete printing of voter
registration lists for Katanga, Eastern Kasai, and Western
Kasai provinces by November 13, for Kinshasa, Bas Congo,
Orientale, North and South Kivu provinces by November 21 -
23, and for Bandundu and Equateur provinces (the last two
provinces undergoing registration) by December 9.
Registration lists are to be distributed via the same network
as utilized for the voting kits from November 20 - December

16. Under this scenario, the referendum date itself would be
December 18, representing a roughly three-week delay from the
originally announced November 27 target.

8. (C) The CEI revised calendar has been the subject of
discussion in recent weeks among CEI officials, foreign
experts and donors, political leaders, and in the Council of
Ministers. In the October 3 meeting, several individuals
expressed dismay over the prospect of the referendum being
delayed beyond the originally-announced November 27 date.
None, however, were able to offer suggestions as to how the
work plan presented by the CEI could be shortened to arrive
at an earlier date. By the end of the discussion, several
speakers, including the Ambassador, emphasized the importance
of adhering to the new date at the risk of undermining the
credibility of the general electoral process.

Election Law
--------------


9. (C) There was also a general agreement on the need to
finalize and move forward the draft general election law now
pending in the GDRC executive. Defense Minister Onusumba
reported that the GDRC Political Committee is scheduled to
meet October 4 to review the draft law. He expressed hope
that agreement could be reached quickly, and anticipated that
subsequent final approval by the Council of Ministers would
be forthcoming soon after. The CEI President noted the need
for the Commission to know provisions of the new law to
enable other preparatory work for the general elections to
move forward on a timely basis. There was consensus within
the Committee to emphasize to all members of the GDRC the
importance of producing a final draft text quickly, and to
members of the Parliament on the need to speedily reach
agreement regarding essential provisions of the law as well.
(Note: The general election law cannot be formally adopted by
the Parliament, nor promulgated into law before referendum
approval of the new Constitution; the new Constitution
provides the legal basis for the election law. There is
broad agreement in the executive and among parliamentary
leaders, however, on the need for de facto parliamentary
approval of the provisions of the new law as soon as
possible. End note.)

Comment
--------------


10. (C) The need for a referendum delay beyond the November
27 date has been anticipated for some time, given delays
experienced in getting voter registration materials
distributed and subsequent delays in the registration
process. It will be very important politically to respect
the new December 18 target to obtain timely approval of the
new constitution, and politically to ease the way for the
next and final extension of the Transition period through
June 30, 2006. That approval must be voted by the
parliament before December 31. More encouraging are the
continuing progress in reported registration numbers and the
new GDRC pledge of money to finance the elections. While the
pledge is welcome, we caution that GDRC financial promises
represent something less than guarantees. In addition, there
will be continuing concerns about availability of money and
resources in time to permit needed operations to be completed
per the work schedule to ensure all key milestones in the
election calendar can be maintained. End comment.
MEECE