Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06NOUAKCHOTT695
2006-06-07 15:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nouakchott
Cable title:  

NDI'S ACTIVITIES AND THINKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000695 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR
SUBJECT: NDI'S ACTIVITIES AND THINKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS
AFTER THE ELECTIONS


Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

--------------
(C) Key Points
--------------

-- NDI reps briefed Ambassador May 30 on their recent two-day
forum to promote the role of women in the transition to
democracy, including NDI's plan to organize candidate debates
and to provide media training to improve electoral coverage.

-- NDI also has helped create a proposal to publicly fund
political party and coalition campaigns. Signed by 28 of
Mauritania's 35 political parties, the proposal, which the
Ministry of Interior is currently considering, establishes
requirements each party or coalition must meet to be eligible
for public funding.

-- NDI reps said that following the March 2007 presidential
elections they are interested in assisting in democracy
stabilization efforts such as "civil-military programs to try
and reduce the distance between these two groups."

------------
(C) Comments
------------

-- NDI continues to lead the way here in helping political
parties and civil society prepare for elections. In fact,
they are one of the only bodies working with these key groups.

-- Elections here that meet international standards are still
far from certain, and they will only be the first step
towards sustainable democracy. NDI realizes this, and their
thoughts about future programs, including in the
civil-military realm, are important.

-- Embassy strongly supports NDI's ideas about combining
Embassy programs such as TSCTI, with NDI's own programming.
It is not too early to start thinking about what the USG
should do after the elections.

End Key Points and Comments.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000695

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR
SUBJECT: NDI'S ACTIVITIES AND THINKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS
AFTER THE ELECTIONS


Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

--------------
(C) Key Points
--------------

-- NDI reps briefed Ambassador May 30 on their recent two-day
forum to promote the role of women in the transition to
democracy, including NDI's plan to organize candidate debates
and to provide media training to improve electoral coverage.

-- NDI also has helped create a proposal to publicly fund
political party and coalition campaigns. Signed by 28 of
Mauritania's 35 political parties, the proposal, which the
Ministry of Interior is currently considering, establishes
requirements each party or coalition must meet to be eligible
for public funding.

-- NDI reps said that following the March 2007 presidential
elections they are interested in assisting in democracy
stabilization efforts such as "civil-military programs to try
and reduce the distance between these two groups."

--------------
(C) Comments
--------------

-- NDI continues to lead the way here in helping political
parties and civil society prepare for elections. In fact,
they are one of the only bodies working with these key groups.

-- Elections here that meet international standards are still
far from certain, and they will only be the first step
towards sustainable democracy. NDI realizes this, and their
thoughts about future programs, including in the
civil-military realm, are important.

-- Embassy strongly supports NDI's ideas about combining
Embassy programs such as TSCTI, with NDI's own programming.
It is not too early to start thinking about what the USG
should do after the elections.

End Key Points and Comments.


1. (U) On May 30, National Democratic Institute (NDI) North
African Regional Director Gerard Latulippe and recently
arrived Resident Director Jacques Veilleux briefed Ambassador
on the status of NDI's efforts to help Mauritania prepare for
elections.

--------------

NDI'S PROGRAMMING
--------------


2. (U) NDI sponsored a Women's Forum May 30-31 to promote the
role of women in the transition to elections. Ambassador
gave a speech in classical Arabic during the opening ceremony
of the event which attracted more than 200 political party
and civil society representatives. Following the event,
participants adopted several resolutions for enhancing
women's political involvement and established a "National
Consultation Platform" which will meet regularly to encourage
further discussion of these issues.


3. (C) Following the success of the Women's Forum, NDI has
worked with forum participants to create an advocacy
strategy, to ensure that parties' candidate lists for the
coming elections ensure women's representation. The
transitional government has said it will require political
parties to ensure that at least 20% of their candidates are
women, but they have not yet created a mechanism for ensuring
this. Latulippe said "it is unlikely the government will be
able to guarantee that 20% of the Parliamentary seats go to
women...either because they will not set the proper party
guidelines, or because the parties won't follow them."
Latulippe added that "this is why we will target political
parties themselves, to try and guarantee improved
representation for women."


4. (U) In the coming months, NDI will focus on enhancing
political parties' abilities to mount successful campaigns.

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"We want to organize candidate debates, and have these
debates broadcast live to the Mauritanian public," Latulippe
said, adding that "this will educate the public about the
elections and will encourage parties to develop competing and
substantive party platforms." NDI also plans to provide
election monitoring training to political parties and media
training to Mauritania's public and private media to
encourage "objective and comprehensive electoral coverage."


5. (U) NDI continues providing political parties material
assistance and training through their Nouakchott Resource
Center.

-------------- --------------
28 POLITICAL PARTIES SIGN PUBLIC FINANCING PROPOSAL
-------------- --------------


6. (C) Over the past four months the Ministry of the Interior
has repeatedly requested public financing proposals from
political parties, saying that if the parties do not agree on
a plan, that the government will not provide public funding
for parties. Responding to a lack of party coordination and
a call from the Ministry for assistance, NDI gathered
together 28 of Mauritania's 35 recognized political parties
to agree upon a proposal (according to NDI the 7 missing
parties were either "non-existent or unreachable").
Following several days of negotiations, the 28 parties agreed
on a public financing framework and submitted this to the
Ministry in mid-May. The Ministry has not yet responded to
the proposal.


7. (C) The public financing proposal includes money for
political parties and coalitions, but not for independent
candidates. The proposal establishes several requirements
parties or coalitions must meet in order to receive funding,
such as candidates running in at least 40% of Mauritania's
electoral districts, at least five regional offices, and a
bank account.

--------------
Programming after March 07 Elections
--------------


8. (C) Responding to Ambassador's question about NDI's plans
in Mauritania following the March 2007 presidential
elections, Latulippe said "we have already begun looking at
several options, including programs with the newly elected
Parliament and civil-military programs to try and reduce the
distance between these two groups." Ambassador proposed that
NDI and the Embassy continue working together, particularly
on the civil-military front. "I see several partnership
opportunities," Ambassador said, adding that "TSCTI is one
possibility."

--------------
FUNDING
--------------


9. (C) Latulippe thanked Ambassador for "all of your work in
pushing for funding," and said that there current funding
position was favorable. Latulippe said NDI was currently
operating on bridge funding from a National Endowment for
Democracy (NED) grant, but was expecting an additional
120,000 dollars from NED, 250,000 dollars from USAID, and
500,000 dollars from the Middle East Partnership Initiative
(MEPI). Latulippe said that once these funds arrived "we
will be in a very good position to carry out our programming
goals."
LeBaron