ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ASK FOR AN EXTENSION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 000718

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM PREL CG
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ASK FOR AN EXTENSION OF
THE TRANSITION

Classified By: Poloff Gons Nachman for Reasons 1.4 B and D


1. (U) The President of the Independent Electoral Commission
(CEI),Abbe Apollinaire Malu Malu, gave a press conference in
Kinshasa April 28 to announce that the CEI would ask
Parliament for an extension of the transition as provided by
Article 196 of the transition's Constitution. Malu Malu said
the written request will be delivered to the National
Assembly and the Senate today.

Comment
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2. (C) As originally envisioned, Malu Malu's announcement was
supposed to follow the conclusion of the current
constitutional debate in the National Assembly, and was to
have included the public unveiling of the electoral calendar.
However, under pressure from the EU to make the announcement
in advance of the arrival of Louis Michel and Javier Solana
April 29, Malu Malu jumped the gun and made half the
announcement envisioned, i.e., that he will request
officially the extension of the transition but without the
mitigating influence of having completed the constitution and
being able to outline the electoral calendar. Popular
reaction to his announcement could, therefore, be far less
positive than hoped since it can easily be used by those
elements -- such as the UDPS -- who already are trying to
destablize the transition as further evidence that the
government is merely trying to maintain its existence without
moving toward elections. The announcement is also
essentially an empty gesture, given that Malu Malu will not
make his official presentation to the plenary (which is a
required step to launch the debate) until after the
constitutional debate is concluded, hopefully sometime next
week.
DOUGHERTY