HAITI ELECTIONS: CANADIAN ELECTIONS EXPERT

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 001070 SIPDIS WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS NSC FOR SHANNON SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAID PGOV HA SUBJECT: HAITI ELECTIONS: CANADIAN ELECTIONS EXPERT REVIEWS BUDGET INCREASE REQUEST REF: PORT-AU-PRINCE 1005 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED ¶1. (SBU) Ron Gould, retired deputy of Elections-Canada and currently an elections consultant for the Canadian government, visited Port-au-Prince April 9-16, to review the recently increased elections budget (reftel). The government of Canada (GOC) has already made available USD 14 million to the Haiti elections effort. Before committing any further assistance, the GOC wanted Gould's evaluation of the electoral process and the new USD 60.7 million budget. He shared his initial reactions and apprehension that the current budget must be rationalized against electoral priorities with emboffs April 15. ¶2. (SBU) Gould provided emboffs with a preliminary readout of his impressions and highlighted his major concerns. He characterized the elections process as fragmented, on the part of both the national and international efforts. The CEP organization was inherently weak without any internal capacity. The fragmentation within the CEP was made worse by the "Commission" structure where each CEP member either heads, or is a member of, the various electoral commissions. Gould reserved particular concern for the disconnects he noted between the UN and OAS election assistance teams. He lamented the lack of electoral expertise on the part of the MINUSTAH Electoral Support Unit, particularly in the leadership position. ¶3. (SBU) Gould said that for the elections to be successful, the registration process must be successful. He expressed concern with the timeline for the elections saying that the dates for an election should be driven by the accomplishment of the voter registration process and not, as the case in Haiti, with the elections dates announced and the registration process forced within those time constraints. Gould suggested that if it became absolutely necessary, he thought the October municipal elections could be pushed back to coincide with the November legislative and presidential elections. He said that ensuring that the computerized, high-tech registration system envisioned works is a critical priority. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: Gould has it right with regard to the difficulties caused by the feeble CEP structure that are exacerbated by the failure of the CEP members to consistently work together towards one goal without individual agendas interfering in the electoral process. However, his concern over the lack of expertise on the part of the UN elections unit is disquieting. Gould and the Canadian Embassy have promised to share his formal report and analysis with the international donors, including an initial "executive summary" that should be prepared within the next week. A push from another donor to further rationalize the elections budget will be useful but ultimately, we may have to make any further USG elections funding decisions based on the information available now. End Comment. FOLEY