Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KINSHASA1033
2006-06-29 13:27:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Kinshasa
Cable title:  

DRC ELECTIONS: CAMPAIGN OFFICIALLY BEGINS

Tags:  PGOV KDEM KPKO CG ELECTIONS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4788
PP RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR
DE RUEHKI #1033/01 1801327
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291327Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4242
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001033 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KPKO CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: DRC ELECTIONS: CAMPAIGN OFFICIALLY BEGINS


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001033

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KPKO CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: DRC ELECTIONS: CAMPAIGN OFFICIALLY BEGINS



1. (U) The official campaign period for the DRC's
presidential and legislative elections commenced June 29,
marking the beginning of the final electoral phase before the
country's July 30 elections. In total, 33 presidential
candidates are running for office, as well as 9,709
candidates (from 213 political parties) for 500 seats in the
National Assembly, representing 169 electoral districts. The
campaign period is scheduled to last 30 days, ending at
midnight July 28. According to the Independent Electoral
Commission (CEI),polls are planned to open at 6am July 30
and are scheduled to close at 5pm, unless voters are still
waiting at that hour to vote. CEI officials have said voting
stations must remain open until the last voter in line at 5pm
has cast a ballot. Immediately following their closure,
voting sites will begin counting ballots, which subsequently
will be sent to regional centers for compilation and
verification. The CEI has not said when the final election
results will be known.


2. (U) While the first round of presidential and legislative
voting will take place July 30, the CEI has not yet set a
date for the second round of elections. (Note: The CEI is
expected to announce the next phase of the electoral calendar
the week of July 3. End note.) The second round of voting
will consist of provincial legislature elections, plus a
runoff in the presidential contest if no candidate receives a
majority of votes in the first round. The top two
vote-getters from the first round would face off in the
second. The 25 provincial legislatures (plus Kinshasa),once
seated, will then elect the country's 108 senators (four per
province and eight for Kinshasa) and 26 territorial governors.


3. (U) As the elections approach, significant logistical
hurdles remain for the CEI and MONUC in preparing for the
DRC's first free elections in more than 40 years. The size of
the country and its electorate are enormous. The DRC's
territorial size is roughly 1.45 million square miles -- or
approximately the size of Western Europe -- and lacks a roads
system, making the transport of goods and election materials
especially difficult. Equally daunting are the number of
potential voters from the country's 11 provinces. The CEI

registered 25.6 million voters in 2005 out of an anticipated
28 million eligible citizens. Comparatively, the DRC has five
million more registered voters than South Africa, and more
than seven times as many as Haiti. In the capital of Kinshasa
and its surroundings alone, there are approximately three
million registered voters, roughly half of Sierra Leone's
entire population. In the DRC's northeastern Ituri District
(roughly two-thirds the size of Liberia),1.4 million
Congolese registered to vote, compared to Liberia's 1.35
million registered voters.


4. (U) Putting into place the DRC's electoral system has
required a massive logistical effort. The budget for the CEI
and the UNDP (which is helping organize elections) has
reached approximately USD 470 million. (Note: This is
separate from MONUC's logistical contribution to elections,
which currently is around USD 100 million per year. End
note.) To assist with this organization, the CEI has
recruited some 300,000 poll workers to operate voting
stations and other regional electoral offices. The government
of South Africa is printing (at a cost of some USD 25
million) 170 different types of ballots for the elections --
one for the presidential vote and one for each of the 169
electoral districts -- which will weigh nearly 1,800 tons.
According to the CEI, it will take 75 round-trip flights from
South Africa to 14 distribution points in the DRC to deliver
some 50 million ballots. In addition, 2,500 tons of material
for election kits (comprised of forms, ballot boxes,
collapsible voting booths, and lanterns, among other
materiel) have been delivered.


5. (U) Following the initial delivery of ballots from South
Africa, material is being dispatched to 166 regional centers
of the Electoral Commission, via MONUC air transport. From
these liaison offices, voting kits and ballots will be
distributed to nearly 11,000 voting centers, and then finally
to a planned 50,000 actual voting stations. The CEI, which
has the responsibility of delivering material from the
liaison offices to the voting sites, has reported that
approximately 24,000 people nationwide will be involved in
the distribution of this material. This distribution phase is
scheduled to begin July 14. Because of the lack of reliable
roads, and insufficient transport means, election material
will be delivered in a variety of ways: canoe, bicycle,
motorbike and even by foot. It is worth noting that each kit

KINSHASA 00001033 002 OF 002


(of which there are some 50,000) weighs about 15 pounds.


6. (U) According to CEI officials, nearly all election kits
have reached the CEI's 166 liaison offices. CEI officials
also report that presidential and legislative ballots for the
majority of electoral districts have been delivered to the
initial 14 distribution sites. The remaining ballots yet to
be delivered are from three of Kinshasa's four electoral
districts; CEI officials said these ballots needed to be
reprinted because they contained errors.


7. (U) Election security will be provided by the Congolese
National Police (PNC) and MONUC peacekeepers, in addition to
troops being provided by the European Union. Approximately
50,000 Congolese police will be used as the first line of
defense on election day to provide security at the country's
polling sites. MONUC currently has nearly 17,500 peacekeepers
deployed in the DRC -- of which some 14,000 are located in
the eastern part of the country -- to provide additional
security, particularly in locations where the PNC does not
have sufficient forces. (Note: MONUC has fewer peacekeepers
than the UN's mission in Liberia did at its peak in 2005, for
a country more than 20 times the size of Liberia. End note.)
Lastly, the European Union has begun sending 800 troops to
Kinshasa to assist MONUC in elections-related security
missions, while an additional 1,200 troops will be positioned
in Gabon.


8. (SBU) Comment: As SRSG William Swing has said, the DRC's
elections are the largest undertaking of its kind ever
supported by the UN. Given the size of the DRC and its lack
of infrastructure, the logistical aspects of the elections
are a nightmare, and problems will invariably arise. Ballots
and election kits will arrive late, and in some cases, not at
all. Some voting centers will not open on time, and some
election workers will likely not show up on election day.
Because of the complicated nature and size of the ballots
(particularly for legislative elections),there will
inevitable be errors in tabulating votes, and many voters
will likely have difficulty understanding how to vote in the
first place. The country's December constitutional referendum
demonstrated, though, that the CEI can organize elections on
a grand scale. End comment.
MEECE