ELECTION HIGHLIGHTS 11: ELECTION OBSERVER REPORT,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001984 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2016 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM BA POL SUBJECT: ELECTION HIGHLIGHTS 11: ELECTION OBSERVER REPORT, VOTER LISTS, ALLEGATIONS OF IRREGULARITIES Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: In light of suspicions raised in the general polling center vote count in the Munira Fakhro/Salah Ali election race, the Election Monitoring Joint Committee's (EMJC) November 29 preliminary report recommended that for the December 2 runoffs, election officials at all polling stations announce full result details to candidates and monitors before moving ballots to the five governorate supervisory centers. Munira Fakhro initiated a court challenge November 29 to the results in her district, claiming the results had been manipulated. Several NGOs that had monitors observing the election process voiced concerns about the lack of transparency in general polling station results. The High Commission for Elections appeared to have retreated from its pledge to provide candidates with post-election voter lists, intended to foster public confidence in the general polling centers, saying that posting the lists at the five supervisory centers was sufficient. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) EMJC REPORT: The Election Monitoring Joint Committee (EMJC),consisting of members of Bahrain Transparency Society (BTS) and Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS),released a preliminary report on the first round of polling on November 29. The report reaffirmed earlier spot reports released by EMJC that "the voting process generally proceeded in an orderly manner with no major incidents that infringe on voters' rights to freely cast their ballots." It identified election irregularities, mostly compiled from the spot reports and technical in nature, but declared that this did not affect the overall administration of the election. However, in its number one recommendation "to improve the transparency and integrity of the second round," it urged the High Commission for Elections to ensure uniformity and increased transparency in the announcing of poll results. The recommendation suggested that election officials announce the number of voters who cast ballots, the number of valid and invalid ballots, and a detailed breakdown of votes for each candidate, at each of the district and general polling stations before the tallies and ballot boxes were moved to the supervisory centers. EMJC also recommended that polling station committees provide observers and candidate representatives with copies of the official results. ¶3. (C) Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) President Houda Nonoo confirmed for Poloff November 30 that results were not released to observers in the general polling centers. Nonoo said that after the results were tallied at one general station at which BHRWS stationed an observer, an election official inquired whether any candidate representatives were present, but none were. In the absence of a candidate representative, the official did not announce results to the observers, but departed with the ballot boxes to drop them at the respective supervisory centers, where the results were combined with those of the other nine general polling centers. ¶4. (C) BTS President and EMJC organizer Dr. Jasim Al Ajmi also confirmed to Poloff November 30 that results were not released to observers in the general stations except in one case in the Southern Governorate where the EMJC observer was allowed to sit at the vote-count table. In all other cases, observers sat in an assigned area of the poll center from six to twelve feet away from the vote-count table. Al Ajmi confirmed that since no candidate representatives were available at general stations, results were not announced and were taken directly to the supervisory centers. He lamented this poor move on the government's part because now there is no independent organization that is able to vouch for what might have happened, if anything, between when the votes were counted at the voting centers and the posting of the results at the supervisory centers. Al Ajmi said that the judges responsible for each station need to be provided with detailed written instructions; by all appearances, in the first round instructions were largely verbal. ¶5. (SBU) President of Public Freedoms Society Mohamed Al Ansari said publicly November 29 that because the vote count did not occur entirely in the presence of monitors, NGOs were not able to report that the vote count was fair and secure, especially in the case of the general poll centers. He said that poll center judges confined the monitors to a corner of the center so that they could not properly perform their duties to observe the election process and the vote count. ¶6. (C) VOTER LISTS RELEASED, WELL, SORT OF: Minister of Justice and High Commission for Elections head Dr. Mohamed Al Sitri confirmed publicly November 28 that the commission would provide candidates with lists of names of first round MANAMA 00001984 002 OF 003 voters. The lists were posted in the five supervisory centers that evening. However, Al Ajmi told Poloff November 30 that he had heard from one of the High Commission judges that individual candidates would not be provided lists because the posted lists in the supervisory centers were sufficient. Al Ajmi expressed his disappointment, saying that it is not reasonable to think that candidates can go to the supervisory centers and stand for hours to compare their pre-election lists with the posted lists. He was dismayed that suspicion has now been introduced to the process since the government had previously pledged to provide the lists, but now it did not deliver. ¶7. (C) CHALLENGES TO THE RESULTS: On November 29 Waad candidate Dr. Munira Fakhro mounted a Court of Cassation challenge to the results in her district in her loss to Al Minbar candidate Dr. Salah Ali. She was reportedly trailing by only 14 votes until the votes from the general polling centers were added. Ali reportedly received nearly 1,200 votes from general polling stations compared to just over 300 for Fakhro. This number put Ali over the 50% mark in the district, resulting in his victory. Speaking to the press November 28, Fakhro alleged that the election result had been manipulated. She said, "I want the authorities to hold a second round of polling (in her district) for the sake of transparency." Two other races that faced challenges were reviewed by the Court of Cassation November 29 but were rejected as being without merit. ¶8. (C) COLUMNIST AL SHAER MUTED: Arabic daily Al Watan columnist Sawsan Al Shaer's editorial intended for the November 29 issue of the newspaper was not allowed to go to print. In the piece entitled "Struggle of the Elephants," (which she emailed to the Embassy),she encouraged the "silent majority" in Bahraini society that does not feel represented by either Sunni or Shia Islamists "to speak up and defend its interests or it will be pushed further into the shadows." She began with criticism of the government for fully supporting the Sunni Islamist Al Asala and Al Minbar political societies, ostensibly to maintain stability and security. On the Shia side is Al Wifaq, whose religious figures pressured the Shia public to support Al Wifaq candidates. Al Shaer described this situation as a political struggle between the government and the Ulama Council (leading Shia religious scholars) carried out on the political game board through political societies in the election. The result is that other groups in society such as women, businessmen, and technocrats are nowhere to be seen. The struggle in the Council of Representatives will be sectarian, she wrote, "so neither Al Wifaq nor Al Minbar nor Al Asala need seats in the (appointed) Shura Council or in the Cabinet under the guise of the need to maintain stability and security." ¶9. (SBU) AL WIFAQ'S APPROACH: In an interview with Arabic daily Al Wasat, leading Shia political society Al Wifaq Secretary General and new MP Shaikh Ali Salman said November SIPDIS 28 that Al Wifaq will not seek to escalate tension in the parliament. He said that supporters understand Al Wifaq's role in parliament and know that success in the parliament is a priority for Al Wifaq. "We care about reinstating the political, economic, and social rights of the people and not making headlines in the newspapers." Referring to Al Wifaq's support for Waad, Salman said, "We need to have liberal MPs such as Waad's candidates in the new parliament because they have valuable political experience and, because of their religious and political positions, they can 'bridge' the gap between political blocs in the parliament and the government." He said that Al Wifaq has more items of agreement with Sunni Islamist political societies Al Asala and Al Minbar than of disagreement. Salman mentioned that Al Wifaq may consider conducting primary elections in 2010 to select candidates for the election due to the high number of society members who want to run in the elections. ¶10. (SBU) EARLY SPARS WITH WOMEN: Contrary to Salman's assertion about not wanting to grab headlines, newly elected Al Wifaq MP Sayed Abdulla Al A'ali made headlines when he stated that he favored passing legislation that bans Bahraini women from working in "male-oriented jobs." He also wants to ban them from appearing in advertisements wearing revealing clothing. "This is an Islamist country and it is a disaster if Bahraini girls are forced to work as dolls," he said. In addition, Al A'ali proposes that the retirement age for women be lowered from the current age of 55, which is already lower than the men's age of 60, because "many women don't work until that age," and therefore are not eligible for a full pension. ¶11. (SBU) In reaction to Al A'ali's comments, Amnesty MANAMA 00001984 003 OF 003 International Bahrain head of campaigns Fawzia Rabea said that such ideas are anachronistic and are not compatible with modern Islam. "Women are brought up today encouraged to participate in public life and politics in order to fight for their rights. We will not allow (those working against women's rights) to change our situation in Bahrain. Our constitution in Bahrain gives us equal rights with men. With this type of thinking in parliament, we will face big challenges." Women's Union President Mariam Al Ruwaie said that these ideas do not agree with the King's reforms that give women and men the same rights in education and work. "I am concerned because the parliament has not even convened, and Mr. Al A'ali is making such comments. But he cannot stop the women's movement." ¶12. (U) Official election spokesperson Ahdeya Ahmed modified upward the participation figure November 28, announcing that the final official voter turnout was 73.6% in the first round of voting. ********************************************* ******** Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ ********************************************* ******** MONROE