COTE D'IVOIRE: ELECTORAL COMMISSION STRUGGLES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000623

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: ELECTORAL COMMISSION STRUGGLES
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REF: ABIDJAN 417

Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (C) Summary: Four months away from the October date by
which Cote d'Ivoire's postponed presidential elections are
supposed to be held, the CEI (Independent Electoral
Commission) has ambitious, probably unrealistic plans to
carpet the country with thousands of polling stations and
train tens of thousands of election workers, but it has
barely started its work and does not even have a notional
timetable for getting to elections. CEI president Mambe
Beugre and his commission have been trying to move forward,
but they face numerous obstacles, including the lack of
operating funds and the absence of civilian administration in
many parts of the country. The fact that more than half of
Ivoirians still don't have the citizen identification cards
they need to register to vote is also a serious obstacle. In
this regard, tensions between the CEI and the National
Commission for the Supervision of Identification (CNSI),
which is responsible for issuing citizen identification
cards, are not helpful. The lack of urgency among the
Ivoirian actors suggests a lack of realism about what the
process involves. Time to prepare for elections in October
is running short. End Summary.


2. (U) Since its installation in March, the new CEI has been
struggling to move forward. During a May 3 conference in
Grand Bassam, Beugre outlined his plans. Beugre said the
commission's overarching goal is to ensure that every citizen
of voting age obtains all the necessary documents to enable
him to exercise his civic right. For their work, the CEI has
divided the country into twenty geographical regions, each
with a CEI supervisory team. Within these twenty regions,
there will be 427 local branches of the CEI. Each branch
will have representation byfrom the various political parties
and local authorities. They will observe and assist in
pre-electoral operations and polling in the towns and
villages, just as the CEI in Abidjan does on the national
level.


3. (U) In the 2000 elections, Cote d'Ivoire had 1650 polling
stations, or an average of one station every 75 square miles.
For the upcoming elections, the CEI wants to have 22,000
polling stations, or an average of one every 5.7 square
miles. The CEI also wants to work with journalists to create
a code of conduct for the elections period, develop a CEI
website, and publicize more widely the electoral code.


4. (SBU) In preparation for the work ahead, 24 board members
of the CEI traveled on May 18-27 to various towns in Cote
d'Ivoire. They visited the rebel-held, UN, and
government-controlled zones and were accompanied by soldiers
from the French Licorne peacekeeping force, the rebel New
Forces (NF),and the Ivoirian armed forces (FANCI). The
trips were familiarization missions to have a better
understanding of the challenges on the ground. Contacts in
the commission tell us that the obstacles are indeed numerous
and expensive and include the following:

PERSONNEL:

5. (C) In most of the north and some areas of the south,
there is an absence of government administration. The
government is waiting for disarmament to redeploy civil
servants to rebel-held areas in the north and west, though
some civil servants have already returned voluntarily.
Without these workers, election preparations cannot begin.
Furthermore, there exists a lack of election workers,
especially in the west but in the north as well. During a
June 2 "Friends of the Elections" meeting headed by UN High
Representative for Elections Gerald Stoudman, Beugre
estimated that over 80,000 personnel would have to be
trained. CEI technicians, outside consultants, and NGO's
would perform the training. Beugre seemed not to have
completely thought through all the logistics involved in
conducting nationwide training of over 80,000 people in a
country with bad roads, no formal postal addressing system,
and unreliable telephone lines. When asked how long the CEI
estimated the training would take, he gave an unrealistic
figure of two weeks.

EQUIPMENT/BUILDINGS/POWER:

6. (SBU) Schools and other public buildings that are used as
voting locations are in disrepair throughout the country, but
especially in the north and the west. There are not enough
polling booths, ballot boxes, padlocks, lanterns, stamps, and
generators to support the elections. Many villages do not
have power at all and power outages are frequent in some

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parts of the country. This increases the risk of security
and fraud issues.

COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES:

7. (SBU) Most Ivoirians do not have land telephone lines.
Currently, the mobile phone network is insufficient for the
demands of the population. The day of elections, all mobile
phone networks are sure to be blocked from overuse. Many
small villages have neither mobile phone access, nor land
lines. All of these issues leave the local CEI offices with
few options to communicate urgent problems with the home
office during the election period. Looking for solutions,
Beugre suggested that the CEI use the UN, FANCI, and Licorne
telecommunications systems during polling.

MOBILITY:

8. (SBU) Voters will need to get to polling locations and the
local CEI offices will need to transport ballot boxes.
However, the roads in Cote d'Ivoire are inadequate and there
are not enough bridges. Beugre cited examples where
villagers had to go 150 kilometers out of their way to cross
a river. He said that commercial transporters are willing to
help with the transport of voters, ballots, equipment etc.,
but only if they will be paid on time and fairly.

SECURITY:

9. (SBU) During the June 2 "Friends of the Elections"
meeting, Beugre pointed out that security will have to be
increased at polling locations and citizens will need to be
aware of what security measures have been put in place.
However, the police and gendarmerie lack vehicles themselves
and it is uncertain that they will be able to secure all of
the voting locations.

IDENTIFICATION:

10. (C) At the same meeting Alain Lobognon, the FN Vice
President of the CNSI),made a combative speech about the
importance of getting the Prime Minister to be more
aggressive in the identification process. (More than half of
Ivoirians still do not have the citizen identification cards
they need to register to vote -- Reftel). During the May
pilot identification project, 3137 people were promised
certificates of nationality, but even this is still one step
removed from the identification cards they need to vote.
Another CNSI official commented that the June 2 meeting was
timed too early because the CEI needs to be pressing harder
for identification first. Stoudman forcefully countered that
at four months away from elections, the meeting was in fact
too late.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

11. (C) None of these problems can be resolved without money.
But Prime Minister Banny, who is also the Minister of
Finance, has not yet given the CEI any operating funds. A
member of the commission confirmed to us that their overall
budget has been approved for 50 billion CFA (USD 98 million
dollars). About 38 billion CFA would go to operational
activities and 6 billion CFA to the CEI's administrative
costs. Another 5 billion CFA is earmarked for paying off the
debt of the last CEI. However, none of these funds have yet
been released. Banny could give the CEI money each month and
it is unclear why he has not chosen to do so. Indeed, the
CEI was only able to pay for their May activities thanks to
USD 100,000 they received from the EU.

INFIGHTING AND TURF FIGHTING

12. (C) Harmony, never plentiful in the Ivoirian political
environment, seems lacking among the electoral actors as
well. The Prime Minister has not been closely involved with
the CEI. He has sent low-level technicians to important
meetings without a clear message from himself. More
troubling, he has effectively paralyzed the organization by
not funding it. The CNSI should be working as a tandem with
the CEI but Lobognon's aggressive comments at the meeting
suggest underlying tensions. Indeed, within the CEI itself
there have been tensions, though contacts on the commission
tell us that relations among commission members are improving.


13. (C) COMMENT: The road to elections is a complicated
process paved with budgetary shortfalls and logistical
challenges. The lack of urgency among the Ivoirian actors
(four months away, they don't have even a notional timetable)
suggests a lack of realism about what the process involves.
Bureaucratic and political fighting are sure to become more
prominent as each office and actor competes for resources,
the spotlight, and their own political agendas. The lack of
urgency among the Ivoirian actors suggests a lack of realism
about what the process involves. Time to prepare for

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elections by October is running short. END COMMENT.

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