Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06LUSAKA1419
2006-10-13 14:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Lusaka
Cable title:  

ZAMBIAN ELECTIONS: A WARTS-AND-ALL INSIDER'S

Tags:  KDEM PGOV EAID ZA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLS #1419/01 2861428
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 131428Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY LUSAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3350
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L LUSAKA 001419 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2016
TAGS: KDEM PGOV EAID ZA
SUBJECT: ZAMBIAN ELECTIONS: A WARTS-AND-ALL INSIDER'S
ACCOUNT

REF: A. LUSAKA 1362

B. LUSAKA 1350

C. LUSAKA 1340

D. LUSAKA 997

E. LUSAKA 702

Classified By: CDA ANDREW PASSEN, REASONS 1.4 (B),(D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUSAKA 001419

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2016
TAGS: KDEM PGOV EAID ZA
SUBJECT: ZAMBIAN ELECTIONS: A WARTS-AND-ALL INSIDER'S
ACCOUNT

REF: A. LUSAKA 1362

B. LUSAKA 1350

C. LUSAKA 1340

D. LUSAKA 997

E. LUSAKA 702

Classified By: CDA ANDREW PASSEN, REASONS 1.4 (B),(D)


1. (C) Summary. President Mwanawasa won Zambia's September
28 presidential election "fair and square," according to an
experienced international elections expert who worked closely
on the electoral process. The expert also noted serious
shortcomings in the management of election results and in the
performance of senior staff of the Electoral Commission of
Zambia. He harshly criticized the ECZ's Information
Technology Department, its legal advisors, its public
relations personnel, and the South African contractor that
set up and operated the results management system, while
praising ECZ Chairperson Judge Irene Mambilima for her
efforts and leadership, despite the failings of many of those
on whom she had to rely. End summary.


2. (C) In an October 12 meeting, an experienced international
elections expert and senior technical advisor to the
Electoral Commission of Zambia, shared candid feedback on
Zambia's September 28 elections in a meeting with
representatives from resident diplomatic missions who
provided support to the Zambian elections. The expert, an
expatriate funded by the United Nations Development Program
Trust Fund (Ref D),worked with the senior permanent staff at
the ECZ as well as with the appointed Chairperson and
Commissioners who oversee the work of the commission. He
said that he was sharing his observations to ensure that
donors were better aware of problem areas within the ECZ,
with the hope that donors could provide support to the ECZ
Chairperson, who intends to make some changes and
improvements based on her experiences with the 2006 election
process.

Preparations and Election Day Far Better Than 2001...
-------------- --------------


3. (C) The expert began his readout by accentuating the
positives, starting with the election preparations. Overall,
election materials were delivered on time, in advance of
election day, and most stations opened on time or not long
after 6 AM. A few isolated problems occurred when field

staff opted to do things "their way" instead of following
clearly stated ECZ procedures, he said. He also praised the
work of the ECZ officials who handled voter education and
training, despite limited time and resources. In the future,
ECZ Chairperson, Judge Mambilima would like to set up a
special unit with more resources dedicated to training, he
told donors.

... But Election Results Process a Disaster
--------------


4. (C) The South African contractor that set up the
electronic results management system, as well as senior ECZ
IT staff, assured the Chairperson and Commissioners that the
system was reliable. The contractor and ECZ IT staff
downplayed the expert's suggestion that a strong alternative
to the electronic system be set up, just in case the system
failed. When it became clear that the electronic system was
not performing adequately, Judge Mambilima made the decision
to shift to a manual system of transmitting results, using
fax machines. However, the ECZ had not taken the expert's
advice to develop an effective manual system, so the results
reporting was not comprehensive. The ECZ simply received
faxed cumulative counts from the district collating centers,
without any further documentation, which left the Chairperson
with little information available to address questions from
opposition parties and civil society. The IT department "let
us down every step of the way," the expert said, adding that
the Judge intends to deal with the problem.


5. (C) The expert said he made a number of other technical
suggestions to improve the results management process, but
none were heeded by ECZ staff. For example, he urged the ECZ
to ensure consistency across all reporting formats (he
suggested reporting results in "ballot-paper order"),to
minimize confusion and human error. The IT staff and
contractor did not follow his suggestions and, as a result,
the computer form filled out for the electronic results
reporting system used a different order, and manual forms
differed. The expert said the tremendous discrepancies
between the number of votes cast for president compared to
national assembly candidates in some constituencies could be
attributed (in part) to the inconsistent reporting formats.
He also noted that rules were applied unevenly, evidenced by
several constituencies that reported zero rejected ballots

(which he called "statistically impossible"). He added that
increased training for polling station officials could help
reduce human error in recording and reporting results. The
ECZ has the ability to audit polling station results and the
expert said he would encourage Judge Mambilima to audit a
small number of polling stations where the discrepancy
between the number of presidential and parliamentary votes
cast was particularly large.


6. (C) Despite the "disaster" with the election results
process, the expert reassured donors that he and his fellow
international technical advisors working at the ECZ observed
no clear pattern in the discrepancies that would indicate any
tampering with the tabulation or results. The bottom line
was that results were "genuine" and not rigged in favor of
any party or candidate. "President Mwanawasa has won this
election, fair and square," he stated. He did note concerns
over results in local government contests, which have not yet
been finalized, and mentioned that a returning officer had
incorrectly announced a ruling party candidate as the winner
in the Western Province Lukulu West constituency, which
should have been declared for an opposition party candidate.

Problems With Electoral Act and Interpretation...
-------------- --------------


7. (C) The expert also shared concerns about the current
Electoral Act, which he described as "appalling" and
"littered with contradictions." The new Electoral Act
enacted by the GRZ in 2006 was very similar to the law it
replaced (Ref E) and failed to take into account many of the
procedural changes that the ECZ made when it prepared the
voter register. Even worse, he said, was the extremely
narrow interpretation of the election law, based on the
thinking, "if the law is silent about something, this means
it cannot be done." This is not standard practice around the
world, the expert stressed. Rather, election law is normally
interpreted in a way that favors enfranchisement. Based on
rigid interpretation of the law, he believes that some
election officials rejected ballots that were not stamped by
polling station officials (per the administrative procedures
of the ECZ),but other officials were less strict and heeded
a statement by the Deputy Chief Justice, who reportedly
encouraged a more pro-enfranchisement interpretation of rules
and regulations governing the election.


8. (C) He also told donors that he had recommended that the
ECZ develop some simple procedures to enable voters who were
in possession of valid voter cards but whose names were
omitted from the voter register to cast a provisional vote.
Chairperson Mambilima and other Commissioners endorsed the
recommendation, but senior officials of the ECZ refused to
implement it, because it was "too much trouble." The failure
to address the problem of omissions from the voter rolls
resulted in some very negative press coverage of a few
polling stations on election day (Ref C),particularly in one
Lusaka polling station where omitted voters vociferously
protested, and fueled suspicions about possible GRZ
interference in the electoral process.

...And Bigger Problems With ECZ Staff
--------------


9. (C) The expert said one of the most significant problems
he observed was with the staff members at the ECZ, many of
whom were motivated exclusively by self-interest and
financial enrichment. Although he described the environment
at the ECZ as very "political," he clarified that this
referred to internal power struggles and personality clashes.
He and his fellow international technical advisors who
worked closely with the ECZ did not observe any evidence of
partisanship on the part of the ECZ staff.


10. (C) One example he gave was of a senior officer in charge
of logistics who maneuvered to remain in Durban for the full
six-week duration of the ballot printing exercise, gaining
significant per diem allowances while effectively abandoning
his responsibility for managing in-country logistics.
Instead, an international advisor assigned to support the
logistics official had to step in and handle all the
election-related logistics.


11. (C) In another example, he noted that public relations
(PR) officials at the ECZ complained to Judge Mambilima that
a potential international technical advisor--who had already
conducted a highly critical but accurate needs
assessment--would be "too disruptive" to the work of the PR
department. The advisor was not hired to work longer-term
with the ECZ and it was too late to identify another
international expert. As a result, the handling of public
relations issued suffered and "Judge Mambilima was not served
well" by the department. For example, an extremely

informative and helpful short film about election procedures
on Election Day was prepared by the voter training and
awareness team, but never aired on local television. In
addition, the ECZ resolved a highly controversial vote count
discrepancy in an urban Lusaka constituency, Munali, which
had created a public impression of foul play by the ECZ (Ref
B) and helped fuel violent protests in the aftermath of
elections (Ref A). To this day, the ECZ has not provided a
public explanation about the favorable resolution of the
Munali discrepancy.


12. (C) Finally, the expert criticized the ECZ legal
department for its poor advice and support to the Chairperson
and Commissioners. As described above, they narrowly
interpreted electoral law and rules. They maintained, for
example, that the ECZ simply cannot do a recount. Although
this is "technically correct," the expert believes the law
can be interpreted differently. Most troubling, he said, is
the ECZ stance regarding identified and confirmed problems
with specific election results. Based on advice from its
lawyers, the ECZ said it will inform candidates about
problems with results, but will not make an appeal on their
behalf. Instead, at some expense, candidates will have to
engage a lawyer and file a petition to question the results
and request a legal review. Donors should pressure the ECZ
to take administrative action to correct results when
mistakes are obvious, the expert said. At a minimum, the
ECZ should make individual polling station results available
to candidates who are considering a legal challenge, even
though the Electoral Act does not require the Commission to
do so.

Praise for Judge Mambilima...and Hope for a Better ECZ
-------------- --------------


13. (C) In the expert's opinion, without Judge Mambilima and
the handful of international technical advisors, the ECZ
would have performed just as badly or even worse in 2006,
compared to 2001 elections. He commended Judge Mambilima's
leadership and noted that she could not always impose her
will and had to give authority to the senior ECZ staff,
because she had to rely on them to get the job done. He
mentioned that in the days just before the election he gave
the Judge a four-page memo outlining many of his concerns and
that in private conversations with him, she bluntly
acknowledged the problems and told him she plans to do
something about them.


14. (C) Comment. Many of the observations of the technical
expert could be viewed as an "I told you so," self-serving
account of the problems with the recent election. However,
in our extensive exchanges with him in recent months, he has
always come across as earnest, objective and committed to
doing a good job. We believe his stated intent of sharing
this feedback, and share his hope that Judge Mambilima will
stay on the job and make needed changes to the ECZ. We also
share his assessment about the undeniably positive impact
that Judge Mambilima and the international experts who
assisted the ECZ had on the conduct of elections.
PASSEN