ELECTION MONITORING: GOB MOVES TOWARD GREATER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001799

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM BA POL REFORM
SUBJECT: ELECTION MONITORING: GOB MOVES TOWARD GREATER
TRANSPARENCY

REF: A. MANAMA 1728

B. MANAMA 1691

Classified By: CDA Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) The High Commission for Elections announced October
16 that any registered Bahraini civil society group will be
allowed to monitor the November 25 elections. Most societies
welcomed the announcement, but Bahrain Human Rights Society
continued to push the GOB to allow international monitors,
even though earlier indications from King Hamad were that
independent, domestic monitors were sufficient. Judges from
the Ministry of Justice responsible for forming a committee
of observers did not completely reject the idea of
international monitors, but have yet to give a public
decision on a Jordanian NGO's request to observe. End
summary.


2. (SBU) The High Commission for Elections announced October
16 that any registered Bahraini civil society group would be
permitted to monitor the November 25 parliamentary and
municipal council elections. The decision came after civil
society groups pressured the GOB to allow independent
monitoring rather than monitoring by a committee formed by
Bahrain's judiciary. Societies wishing to participate must
notify the High Commission of their intent in writing by
November 10. They will then have through November 15 to
present information about the individuals who will be
involved. Although this decision was welcomed by most civil
society groups, Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) assistant
secretary general and spokesman Dr. Abdulla Al Derazi said

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that the decision did not go far enough because it did not
allow for international monitors. The High Commission's
guidelines for monitors, who will be allowed to observe
vote-casting and vote-counting in addition to candidate
activities, specify that monitors must be Bahraini. They
further restrict election candidates and political society
members from participating as monitors.


3. (C) Al Derazi told Poloff October 17 that although the
Commission's announcement does increase transparency on
election day itself, the Bahrain Transparency Society
(BTS)/BHRS monitoring plan is much more robust. It has
already been under way for some time and will extend past
election day. The two societies will participate in the
application process with the Commission to obtain access
badges to polling stations, but will not coordinate their
monitoring with other societies. Trained volunteers will be
included on BTS' and BHRS' registration lists.

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Movement to Allow Monitors
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4. (C) For the past several months the public message from
(now former) elections chairman Shaikh Ahmed Bin Attiyatallah
Al Khalifa, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and
Director of the Central Informatics Organization (CIO),was
that there would be no observers for the November 25
parliamentary and municipal elections. He said that judges
from the Ministry of Justice were to be responsible for
ensuring that the elections are free and fair. (Note: BTS
president Dr. Jasim Al Ajmi told Poloff that in 2002 a
similar chain of events occurred until the final week before
the elections when King Hamad intervened to allow members of
BTS and BHRS, and volunteers the two societies had trained,
to observe the elections. End note.) In response to public
statements of intent from both BHRS and BTS that they would
monitor the elections in defiance of Shaikh Ahmed's orders,
Minister of Social Development Dr. Fatima Al Balooshi stated
publicly that civil society groups would not be allowed to
monitor the elections because their society by-laws did not
include election monitoring. However, Al Balooshi offered a
plan to involve civil society groups on a Ministry committee
to "follow" the election. Civil society groups were
unenthusiastic.


5. (SBU) Meanwhile, BHRS representatives forged ahead to
prepare volunteers to observe the elections, as they had done
in 2002. For three days beginning September 17, BHRS hosted
a training in cooperation with the Amman Center for Human
Rights covering the role of the media during the elections
and election monitoring. Approximately 35 volunteers
participated. Just before the training Al Derazi said
publicly that by election time there would be approximately
200 volunteer monitors stationed around the country at

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polling stations to monitor the vote.

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Enter the Bandar Report
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6. (C) As the furor surrounding the release of the Al Bandar
report (Ref A) grew and critics of the CIO became more vocal,
the Ministry of Justice took a more visible role in the
preparation for the elections. The High Commission for
Elections, chaired by Minister of Justice Dr. Mohamed Ali Al
Sitri, appointed Wael Bu'alay, head of the Public
Prosecutor's Office, to be Executive Director for the
elections in place of Shaikh Ahmed. A group of judges,
including Bu'alay, met with nine civil society organizations
to discuss observation of the elections. Initial indications
were that the judges would decide who would take part in
observation and who would not, but in light of the most
recent announcement, this is not now the case. Meanwhile,
the role of the CIO in the election process has declined to
the point where it is only providing data and technical
assistance. As for Shaikh Ahmed himself, Al Ajmi told Poloff
that he had spoken to Shaikh Ahmed by phone and he was not in
Bahrain; he said he needed "some time away."


7. (C) Al Ajmi expressed his pleasure with the turnaround in
the GOB attitude toward election observation, outlining the
progression from no independent observers, to a committee
chosen by the Ministry of Social Development to "follow" the
election, to observers chosen by judges at the Ministry of
Justice, to allowing civil societies to form a committee
themselves to monitor the election. However, Al Ajmi still
wanted to push for more independence from the government and
for involvement of international observers.

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International Observers
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8. (C) Although King Hamad himself indicated during a
meeting September 20 with political society leaders that
there was no need for international observers during the
election, BTS and BHRS have continued to bring the issue of
international observers before government officials. Most
recently, on October 8 they lobbied for international
observers before the committee of judges tasked with
organizing the observation committee. According to Al Ajmi,
the judges did not dismiss the request immediately, but
simply responded that no international organizations had
requested to be involved in monitoring. Since that time a
Jordanian NGO has sent a proposal to the Ministry of Justice
requesting that it participate, but the Ministry has not made
a decision yet on the request. Al Ajmi remains optimistic
there may be room for international observers. He said he
senses that the judges are deferring increasingly to BTS and
BHRS to give the elections more legitimacy in the eyes of the
public.

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NGO Conflicts
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9. (SBU) The press has carried several articles describing
conflicts among NGOs interested in serving on the committee,
many of whom accuse each other of insufficient independence
and objectivity. On October 14, before the announcement by
the Ministry of Justice welcoming any civil society group to
participate in election observation, the Bahrain Quality
Society accused BTS and BHRS of trying to exclude it from the
civil society observation committee. Al Ajmi explained that
BTS' concern was that the observation committee should not be
formed by the judiciary (the Quality Society's position) but
should be formed by civil society groups themselves to ensure
independence. On another front, BTS and BHRS have both
advocated that any person or group implicated in the Bandar
Report not be included in election monitoring, including the
Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society and its most outspoken
member, Shura Council member Faisal Fulad. Fulad has reacted
calling BTS and BHRS exclusionary and labeling them PONGOs
(Political NGOs).

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Comment
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10. (C) In the aftermath of the release of the Bandar
report, the King and other government officials have been
concerned that the elections be seen to be free and fair and
have therefore given ground on election monitoring. GOB
officials recognize that the public perceives BTS and BHRS to

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be objective, unbiased organizations that will lend
credibility to the election process and the vote itself.
Although the entrance of what could be dozens of civil
society groups into election observation may increase the
perception of transparency, substantive feedback on the
election will still come from groups with experience and
training such as BTS, BHRS, and trained international
observers, if they are allowed.

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ZIADEH