HAITI: 3.32 MILLION REGISTERED VOTERS: ID

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 002652 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR DRL S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HA SUBJECT: HAITI: 3.32 MILLION REGISTERED VOTERS: ID DISTRIBUTION ON HOLD ¶1. According to OAS elections officials, as of October 24 the OAS had processed 3.32 million voter records. While registration closed throughout Haiti October 22, the number of registered voters will continue to rise through the end of October as the OAS receives records from outlying rural areas. When registration officially closed, the OAS had registered what they deemed acceptable percentages of voters in all but 15 rural communal sections. Of those, the OAS opened registration in five but did not register as many voters as they would have liked. They were unable to open registration in the other ten communal sections because of impassable rivers. On October 27, the OAS and the CEP member charged with registration, Pierre Richard Duchemin, plan to meet with MINUSTAH to discuss reopening registration in those 15 communal sections, which for expediency they would have to reach by helicopter. ¶2. To date, 600,000 identification cards have arrived in Haiti, but the OAS still has not started distributing them in large numbers because of a CEP request to stop distribution until voting centers are identified. MINUSTAH has started to choose the 800 voting centers from a list of roughly 1786 possible sites furnished by the CEP. It will present the list to the CEP by October 30 (septel). ¶3. Comment: Though the decision to hold cards until voting centers has delayed card distribution, waiting will ensure that voters know their voting centers before election day and should increase the likelihood that registered voters will turnout on Election Day. GRIFFITHS