IWU: INEC PREPARED, STEADY AND READY TO GO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000632 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM NI SUBJECT: IWU: INEC PREPARED, STEADY AND READY TO GO ABUJA 00000632 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Political Counselor Russell Hanks for reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: INEC Chairman Maurice Iwu told a packed audience of diplomats in Abuja that INEC is prepared to conduct credible elections as scheduled. He said that INEC had no intention of delaying the elections because of the death of a presidential candidate, although he acknowledged that it is possible that "late court decisions" in several pending cases could lead to serious problems. International observers will be accredited one week before the elections to minimize disruptions to ongoing preparations and some domestic observer groups would be banned because of their partisan affiliations and national security reasons. End summary. INEC SAYS IT IS ELECTION READY, OBSERVERS WELCOME -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) INEC Chairman spoke on March 30 to a packed house of Abuja-based diplomats about INEC's assessment of the state of preparations. The one and half hour briefing featured a 45 minute presentation by Chairman Iwu and 40 minutes of questions and answer. In the briefing Iwu confirmed that INEC did not intend to postpone elections, that its logistical preparations are "90-95 completed," and that the final plans for conducting elections and announcing results were entering their final stages. ¶3. (U) Diplomats raised concerns about the lack of specificity regarding the accreditation of international election observers. In response, Iwu said that accreditation would wait until the week before the elections. He provided few details about how the process would be conducted. He said that the web-based observer registration system had been abandoned because of concerns about fraud. ¶4. (U) Iwu also said that observers would be allowed free movement, although INEC would request "advance notice" of where observers would be deployed, and might advise them to against going to some places because of security concerns. International observers could ignore the advice, he said. Long term observers already in the country, he continued, would also have to wait for the accreditation process to begin. ¶5. (U) Iwu characterized the registration process as INEC's greatest challenge and estimated that 90 percent of eligible voters had registered, and that the finally tally would be about 61.5 million registered voters. He revealed that the "pilot" electronic registration plans had been a failure but the computer-based process had worked much better. He told diplomats that the voter's register would be on display before the election, to allow voters to find their polling stations and verify their registration. The system now in place would allow the register to be dynamic and constantly updated, something that would continue immediately after elections in April. ¶6. (U) On election days, Iwu said, the polls would be open from 8am to 3pm and the results would be declared at each polling station. Final results would be available within three days. An American "auditing firm" would be involved in verifying the collation process. Iwu said the vote tallies would be transmitted electronically and would be supplemented by the physical transport of ballot boxes by road. Iwu also said that in the necessity of a run-off, INEC was prepared to conduct the second round of the election the following week." If we were to have elections tomorrow, we would be ready," he said. ¶7. (U) Iwu said that INEC was in the process of preparing a general information campaign to inform voters of where, when and how to vote. The campaign would be on radio and television, he said. INEC was also in the process of hiring and training more than a half a million ad-hoc workers for election day and that he had volunteers from many of Nigeria's leading NGOs and professional associations. Iwu told the diplomats that preparations even in the Niger Delta were well advanced and well-prepared. IWU DEFENDS ATIKU'S EXCLUSION -------------- ¶8. (U) When questioned, Iwu defended the exclusion of Vice ABUJA 00000632 002.2 OF 002 President Atiku from the ballot, and told diplomats that the legal decisions rendered had in fact favored INEC, and that the media had been deliberately misleading in it reports on the judgments. He said that INEC had not disobeyed any "cogent and verifiable" court orders and would follow any subsequent decisions. He suggested that any of the contestants who still had outstanding issues should go to the election tribunals for relief, and he faulted the AC party for not removing Atiku as its candidate until the courts decide he is eligible. ¶9. (U) "Late decisions by the judiciary" could have an impact on the conduct of the elections, Iwu said. He reiterated that INEC had no intention of delaying the election because of the death of the AD candidate, although that party might chose to file a case, and he would be forced to abide by the judge's decision. ¶10. (C) COMMENT: Iwu's presentation was consistent with his previous diplomatic briefings and his recent public statements alleging that INEC is prepared and ready for credible elections on schedule. The only major problem he could possibly foresee would be "late court decisions," which could cause a delay, against the wishes of INEC. His presentation, while optimistic, did little to convince those in the audience that all is well and is almost diametrically contrary to the views of NDI, IRI, and IFES, all of which believe that Nigeria is ill-prepared for elections in two weeks. CAMPBELL