UDPS LEADERS IN EASTERN KASAI URGE VOTERS TO HEAD

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001562

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: UDPS LEADERS IN EASTERN KASAI URGE VOTERS TO HEAD
TO POLLS

REF: A. KINSHASA 1487


B. KINSHASA 1508


1. (U) Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) leaders
in Eastern Kasai province -- the stronghold of the party and
home province of its president Etienne Tshisekedi -- issued a
communique October 6 encouraging all Congolese to participate
"massively" in the October 29 presidential runoff and
provincial assembly elections. The party has heretofore
boycotted the DRC electoral process. The communique, signed
by UDPS/Mbuji-Mayi spokesman Patrice Kabemba, stated that
those who have a voter registration card can go vote. The
party itself, however, will remain neutral and will not
endorse either President Joseph Kabila or Vice President
Jean-Pierre Bemba.


2. (U) UDPS/Eastern Kasai federal president Pierre N'sana
said the party released this message to respond to the local
population's insistence on knowing the UDPS position on the
forthcoming elections. N'sana insisted, however, that the
UDPS still believes Tshisekedi and the party have been
excluded from the elections by the Independent Electoral
Commission and the international community. Those who did
register to vote, he said -- despite the UDPS's instructions
not to do so -- will be free to vote for any candidate of
their choosing.


3. (U) The latest announcement follows the public feuding
between national-level UDPS leaders (reftels),who have split
on whether to support Kabila or Bemba in the upcoming
election, or remain neutral. Tshisekedi himself has still not
made any public statements regarding the party's position or
strategy for the October 29 vote.


4. (SBU) Comment: The declaration from the Eastern Kasai
branch of the UDPS is further evidence of the growing
confusion within the ranks of the party. UDPS supporters in
Eastern Kasai have been party hard-liners, adamantly refusing
to take part in the election process. Attitudes, however, are
evidently changing in the province -- including in Mbuji-Mayi
-- with thoughts that the long-standing UDPS strategy may
only further marginalize the region. Still, N'sana is trying
to have it both ways by criticizing the entire process while
encouraging people to vote, even though the UDPS previously
claimed none of its supporters were registered voters. The
Eastern Kasai announcement is also likely a better indicator
of the party's true position now on elections, as rarely do
the party's provincial leaders make any move without the
authorization of UDPS officials in Kinshasa. Absent any
direct word from Tshisekedi, though, the level of UDPS
participation in the elections is likely to be relatively
low, especially with no UDPS candidates running for office.
End comment.
DOUGHERTY