STATE INECS PREPARE FITFULLY FOR VOTER REGISTRATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 001313 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W STATE FOR INR/AA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV NI SUBJECT: STATE INECS PREPARE FITFULLY FOR VOTER REGISTRATION REF: ABUJA 2625 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Before the announcement by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) that nationwide registration would be postponed until October 25, Poloff took a swing through Nigeria's six Southwestern States to assess the status of voter registration. State INEC officials told Poloff that rechargeable batteries for the voter registration machines would overcome the lack of electricity in many places in Southern Nigeria. The officials had no instructional materials available, but said that information would be available in the newspapers and on-line. Well underway in the States visited was the hiring of registration workers; one Action Congress official complained that, in Lagos, all registration workers were People's Democratic Party (PDP) members. Just two weeks before voter registration was scheduled to start, we saw scant evidence of readiness to begin the exercise. Although the postponement gave INEC a reprieve, voter registration still got off to a wobbly start on October 25. In many places, INEC preparations were languid at best. End Summary. ¶2. (U) In late September, Poloff and Polspec visited Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and local party officials in the Southwestern States of Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, and Edo to evaluate voter registration preparation. Poloff's trip preceded the decision, made at the end of September, to postpone nationwide registration, scheduled to begin on October 7, to October 25. According to Lagos State INEC Public Affairs Officer Femi Akinbiyi, registration would begin on October 7 in only a few areas, such as Bakassi and some northern districts where registration did not take place in 2002. USAID sources reported that registration commenced on October 7 in parts of Delta, Cross River, and Taraba States as well as the Lagos river areas, but in many locations a lack of materials delayed registration. -------------- INEC Holds Instructional Seminar in Abuja -------------- ¶3. (U) INEC officials had just returned from instructional meetings in Abuja. Officials told Poloff they were instructed how to implement "voter revalidation", the INEC term for registration. The process requires all voters to re-register. Officials in all states told Poloff that they had seen demonstrations of the registration machines. ¶4. (U) In Ekiti State, State INEC Administrative Secretary ¶P. Olagbende told Poloff he had spent the previous day meeting with local party officials from the governing and opposition parties to explain the registration process and demonstrate the registration machine. Olagbende said he used a machine to print out a sample registration card. Olagbende showed Poloff cards that will be used to capture the voter's thumbprint, and explained the registration machine will simultaneously capture each registrant's photograph as well. The machine will then print the voter's registration card on the spot. The biometric capture is intended to discourage fraudulent and duplicate voting, Olagbende emphasized. -------------- Registration Machines Nowhere In Evidence -------------- ¶5. (U) Although Olagbende told Poloff that he had a registration machine, Poloff did not see the machine in the Ekiti INEC office. With the exception of Olagbende, no INEC officials in any of the states indicated to Poloff that they had machines available with which to begin registration. -------------- Batteries Solve Power Problem, INEC Insists -------------- ¶6. (U) Poloff asked Ekiti INEC official Olagbende if he anticipated any problems stemming from the fact that the registration machines needed electricity. Olagbende insisted that power would not be a problem. Each registration machine is equipped with a battery that lasts eight hours and officials plan to re-charge the machines each night after the close of registration. -------------- No Informational Literature Available -------------- ¶7. (U) One constant among the state INEC offices was none of LAGOS 00001313 002 OF 002 them had any literature or information about the registration process or about the elections available for public use. Poloff asked Administrative Secretary for the Osun State INEC Office Michael Na'allah if he could show Poloff some of the instructional materials available to registrants. In response, Na'allah suggested that television advertisements and information that will be furnished to the print media would be the way the public is informed. -------------- Hiring of Registration Workers Underway -------------- ¶8. (U) In all of the States visited, hiring of election workers was underway, INEC officials told Poloff. In the Ekiti State INEC office, Poloff and Polspec observed dozens National Youth Service Corps and other job hopefuls awaiting instructions. At the Oyo State INEC Office in Ibadan there were no job seekers present; Public Affairs Officer Ayodele Folami told Poloff the recruitment and screening of the ad hoc registration officers would be done in the local council areas to ensure that registration workers actually live in the areas in which they are registering voters. -------------- Political Parties Planning to Send Observers -------------- ¶9. (U) Poloff spoke with local party officials to gauge their satisfaction with the registration process. Action Congress (AC) party officials in Oyo and Ondo States told Poloff they would send monitors to observe the voter registration process and to report any irregularities to their local councils and the public. In Lagos State, Israel Opayemi, Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor, voiced concern because all of the election officials conducting the revalidation exercise are PDP members. ¶10. (SBU) Comment: Just two weeks before voter registration was scheduled to start, we saw scant evidence that the six Southwestern States were ready to begin the process. Nor were we convinced by officials' explanations for how they planned to keep the machines running in the absence of electricity, although we did not ask specifically about arrangements for generators. While INEC made some headway in planning for the October 25 commencement, initial reports confirm that INEC never caught up completely. In many places, due to INEC inefficiency, voter registration began in name only. End Comment. BROWNE