ECOWAS ELECTIONS ACTIVITIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000102

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM NI
SUBJECT: ECOWAS ELECTIONS ACTIVITIES


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Classified By: Political Counselor Russell J. Hanks for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).


1. (U) Summary: ECOWAS has established an Electoral
Assistance Unit within its Commission for Political Affairs,
Defense, and Security. The unit is preparing to field
assesment teams to seven presidential and legislative
elections in the subregion in 2007, including Nigeria's April
polls. Former Gambian President Dawda Jawara will head a
team assesing Nigeria's pre-election climate beginning
January 22. ECOWAS anticipates that it will sponsor an
observer mission of around 200 people during Nigeria's April
2007 polls. The organization does not have sufficient funds
in its 2007 operating budget for its proposed regional
elections activities and ECOWAS plans to approach donors and
international organizations for assistance. End summary.

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ECOWAS Democracy Protocol
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2. (U) ECOWAS bases its democracy and elections activities
on the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance,
established in December 2001. The protocol states that
elections should be organized by a neutral or independent
body, that voters' rolls should be prepared in a transparent
manner and that parties and voters should have access to the
rolls "whenever the need arises," that the preparation and
conduct of elections and announcement of results shall be
done in a transparent manner, and that all holders of power
shall refrain from acts of intimidation or harrassment
against defeated candidates or their supporters. The
protocol also says that at the request of any member state,
ECOWAS may provide assistance in the conduct of any election.
Even if no assistance is requested, the Executive Secretary
(now the President) may send a "fact-finding Mission" to any
member state conducting elections. The mission may gather
information on pre-election conditions, meet candidates,
political leaders, and government authorities, and assess the
status of preparations for the elections. Finally, the
President of ECOWAS may choose to send an Observer Mission to
an election in any member state. The Observer Mission will
be comprised of nationals of other ECOWAS states and must
include women. The team will arrive in country at least 48
hours before the elections and may establish links with NGO
or other observer teams. The Mission should remain in
country throughout the election period and until results are
announced. The Observer Mission shall submit a report to the
ECOWAS President. In the report, the Mission should give its
assesment of the conduct of the elections from the
perspective of the host country law and the "universal
principles in electoral matters." The report may also
contain the team's recommendations for improvement of the
conduct of future elections and monitoring Missions.

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Upcoming 2007 Activities
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3. (C) Poloff met January 12 with Colonel Mahamane Toure,
ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Defense, and
Security, and Mr. Francis Oke, program officer in the ECOWAS
Electoral Assistance Unit. Oke explained that ECOWAS planned
to send Missions to seven of its member states conducting
elections in 2007: Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Benin, the Gambia,
Sierra Leone, and Togo. An initial 5-person exploratory
mission went to Senegal in December for 2 weeks. ECOWAS also
plans to send a second mission headed by former President
Soglo to Senegal in late January. According to Oke, the
Elections unit of ECOWAS is finalizing a handbook and a code
of conduct for ECOWAS Observer Missions, which they created
with help and funding from Germany's Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung. However, ECOWAS does not have sufficient funds in
its budget for all of its planned elections activities in

2007. Both Oke and Toure said that ECOWAS was trying to
establish a clearer picture of the projected costs for
activities surrounding the seven upcoming elections in the
subregion. They plan to use that cost information to
approach donors and NGOs for assistance and have already had
preliminary discussions with IFES and the Danish government.

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ECOWAS on Nigeria
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4. (C) An exploratory mission headed by Dawda Jawara, former
President of the Gambia, will spend three weeks in Nigeria
beginning January 22. The team will also include the head of
Ghana's electoral commission and Ghanian General Obeng as
well as ECOWAS staff. Oke explained that the Mission would
take into account the reports published recently by other
assesment teams such as IRI, NDI, and the EU. The report of
the ECOWAS exploratory mission will not be made public,
however. It will be an internal document sent to Dr.
Chambas, the ECOWAS President, who will then decide whether
any "mediation" is necessary to encourage Nigeria to address
problem areas before the election. Should mediation be
needed, both Toure and Oke explained that it would take the
form of "quiet diplomacy" between ECOWAS and the GON. In the
past, Toure, said, such quiet diplomacy has included using
the good offices of former Nigerian rulers like General Gowon
and General Abdulsalami (both members of the ECOWAS Council
of Elders) to intervene with the GON on behalf of ECOWAS
regarding any problem areas which need to be addressed.
Colonel Toure indicated that ECOWAS has not recieved any
requests for election assistance from the Nigerian
government. However, he believes that given the importance
of the upcoming elections and the country's size, ECOWAS will
send its largest ever Observer Mission to Nigeria in April.
Toure estimated that an observer team of 200-300 people may
be required to adequately observe Nigeria's polls.


5. (C) Both Colonel Toure and Mr. Oke were somewhat
reluctant to share any personal assesments of Nigeria's
election preparations to date, and Poloff acknowledged that
ECOWAS had a "special relationship" with Nigeria as both the
largest country in the subregion and the host of the
organization's headquarters. Mr. Oke, a native of Benin who
worked previously around Africa for IFES and USAID on
elections, did note that he found the lack of publicity for
the ongoing voter registration exercise "odd." In Benin and
other countries in which he worked, he explained, there was
much more publicity on television and radio about how and
where to register to vote. He found the lack of information
available to average Nigerians "troubling."

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COMMENT
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6. (C) It is good that ECOWAS seems to be taking an active
interest in upcoming elections around the subregion, though
troubling that they are only now thinking about where to
obtain funds for their proposed election activities. Despite
the organization's delicate relationship with Nigeria as its
largest member and host country, ECOWAS seems to understand
the need to engage soon with the GON regarding its lackluster
election preparations. The report of the upcoming
exploratory mission may spur Dr. Chambas to engage in quiet
diplomacy in February, adding an important regional voice to
the chorus warning that all is not on track for Nigeria's
April elections.
CAMPBELL