COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES: PERU ON ELECTION

UNCLAS LIMA 001852 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PREL PE SUBJECT: COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES: PERU ON ELECTION STANDARDS INITIATIVE REF: A. STATE 71931 ¶B. STATE 66782 Sensitive But Unclassified, Please Handle Accordingly ¶1. (SBU) On 4/19, D/Polcoun delivered reftel points and concept paper on the U.S. proposal for developing election standards and assessment mechanisms to Foreign Ministry Human Rights and Social Affairs Director Carlos Roman. Roman told Emboff on 4/21 that he had forwarded the U.S. proposal to Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez, as part of a briefing package on the Santiago Community of Democracies meeting. Roman said the evaluation of the USG initiative he had given the Minister was generally favorable, but he had noted concerns about possible duplication of the roles of existing institutions, such as the Carter Center and Transparency International. Roman hoped the U.S. would provide more details on the make-up, the mandate, and the criteria for intervention of this proposed group of international election experts, as the GOP would need this kind of information before it could fully commit to supporting our initiative. ¶2. (SBU) COMMENT: We suggest that the USDel to the Santiago Ministerial engage with the Peruvians on the election standards initiative in order to assuage their concerns about duplication of roles. STRUBLE