DRC ELECTIONS: VOTING COMPLETED, COMPILATION BEGINS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001677 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS SUBJECT: DRC ELECTIONS: VOTING COMPLETED, COMPILATION BEGINS REF: KINSHASA 1675 (AND PREVIOUS) ¶1. (U) Summary: The DRC's October 29 presidential run-off and provincial assembly elections generally passed smoothly and peacefully, with only a few logistical problems and isolated incidents of violence reported. Officials with the major political parties have expressed their overall satisfaction with the course of voting operations. Anecdotal accounts indicate voter turnout was slightly lower than in the July 30 elections, except in the Kasais. The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) is now collecting ballots and tally sheets from the country's 50,045 voting sites and delivering them to 62 compilation centers nationwide. End summary. ¶2. (U) Kinshasa remains calm the morning after the October 29 vote. Traffic is moving normally, businesses are open, and MONUC and EUFOR continue to patrol and maintain a very visible presence. ¶3. (SBU) One serious incident was reported overnight in Ituri District in the area of Fataki, approximately 30 miles northeast of Bunia. CEI and MONUC officials said two Commission workers who had been working the polls October 29 were shot and killed by members of the Congolese military early the morning of October 30 while heading home. The incident does not appear to have been politically motivated, however. Shortly afterwards, members of the victims' families reportedly attacked nine voting centers in the city. CEI officials said 43 voting stations were destroyed along with all their materials, including ballots. Eight CEI workers were apparently injured. The CEI has sent a delegation from Bunia to Fataki to assess the situation and to make a recommendation as to possibly re-opening voting operations. ¶4. (SBU) Representatives of both President Kabila and Vice President Bemba told us they were generally pleased with the way voting took place. Officials with Kabila's Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP) told us they are confident Kabila will win, albeit by a slim margin. A senior Bemba adviser was equally confident Bemba will win, adding that his party's observers are "angry" with attempts by AMP partisans to cheat. The adviser provided no proof of his allegations of cheating, however. Both camps said they believed turnout was lower than in the first round, especially in some of the eastern provinces, but that turnout in the Kasais was higher than anticipated. ¶5. (U) CEI President Abbe Apollinaire Malu Malu said in an interview with Radio Okapi the evening of October 29 that voting operations went smoothly throughout most of the country. He noted that according to the Commission's electoral calendar, provisional presidential results will be announced no later than November 19. CEI spokesman Dieudonne Mirimo told us the Commission considers the second-round elections to have been a "success," despite some incidents that took place in Equateur province (reftels). Malu Malu said in some locations, the wrong provincial ballots had been delivered to voting stations, but local solutions were quickly found to remedy such problems. ¶6. (U) Malu Malu said the CEI will open an inquiry into the events in Bumba in Equateur province that resulted in the closure of a dozen voting centers. The CEI is sending a delegation to Bumba October 30 to assess the situation and assist in re-opening on October 31 the polling sites that were affected. ¶7. (U) The European Commission issued a communique October 29 congratulating the Congolese people for their participation in the election. EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said the vote demonstrated the maturity of the Congolese people and represented a real opportunity for the country to restart development, restore democratic governance, and reestablish peace. He urged the people and political actors to respect voting results and to maintain a climate of tolerance and peace. ¶8. (U) The electoral process now moves into the complicated phase of collecting and compiling ballots. Materials from the DRC's 50,045 voting sites will be transported beginning October 30 to 62 compilation centers throughout the country where CEI officials will tabulate and publish results for each of the country's 189 electoral districts. (Note: After the July 30 elections, the collection and compilation phase was poorly executed, resulting in significant delays in reporting results as CEI staff sifted through disorganized KINSHASA 00001677 002 OF 002 piles of tally sheets, ballots and other paperwork. End note.) Mirimo said initial reports from throughout the country indicate collection is proceeding as scheduled and on time. ¶9. (U) The CEI has since July refined its collection plan for Kinshasa and other urban centers. Beginning October 30, material will be collected at each polling site and delivered to one of 14 collection points in the capital. From these points, ballots and tally sheets are to be transported to one central center where material will be sorted and organized according to electoral district. Polling center chiefs will also be required to verify they have ensured the delivery of all documents. The last step in the collection process is to send the collated materials to a main compilation center. At this point, CEI workers will verify result sheets and subsequently post results once all voting stations in an electoral district have been accounted for. The CEI has said the entire collection process should take approximately three days to complete. Post will report on the collection and compilation process septel. MEECE