ELECTION MONITORING COMMISSION AWOL FOR LOCAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001662

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM AG
SUBJECT: ELECTION MONITORING COMMISSION AWOL FOR LOCAL
ELECTIONS


Classified By: Classified by CDA, a.i. Thomas F. Daughton;
reasons 1.4 (b),(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: The campaign process for the November 29
local elections is well underway in Algeria, but without the
official election monitoring commission that has been present
in past elections. Newspaper accounts report both coalition
and opposition political party discontent with Interior
Minister Zerhouni's comments on the absence of a commission.
Conversations with party representatives reinforce concern
that the election process lacks transparency and is at risk
of tampering and fraud. END SUMMARY.

THE BEGINNING OF THE CONTROVERSY
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2. (C) On November 8, the first day of the official election
campaign, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni gave an interview
on the French-language radio station in which he stated that
"if political parties wish to form (an election monitoring
commission) the administration will not oppose it, on the
condition that the commission is responsible for its
members." (Note: Under Algerian law, election monitoring
commissions consist of various party representatives and are
formed at the discretion of the president. End note.) A
later report in the French-language daily El Watan quoted
Zerhouni saying "the commission is about haggling, with
members recently asking for 80,000 dinars ($1,195) per day."
Moussa Touati, head of a small opposition party called the
Algerian National Front (FNA),told us somewhat surprisingly
on November 5 that he agreed with Zerhouni and opposed the
monitoring commission because when he went to meet with them,
"they were only concerned about how much money they would be
paid for their services." Other reaction to Zerhouni's
comments was less accepting. Society of Peace Movement (MSP)
head Aboujerra Soltani, a member of the ruling presidential
coalition, called the election monitoring commission a
"necessity," according to French-language daily L'Expression.
A November 13 cartoon in the French-language daily Le Soir
d'Algerie carried the ironic caption, "The fraud risks being
sullied by the vote".

THE PARTIES REACT
--------------


3. (C) In a November 7 conversation with poloff before
Zerhouni's November 8 radio interview, opposition Rally for
Culture and Democracy (RCD) representative Mohamed Khandak,
director of local elections, was generally dour about the
prospects for a fair election. Khandak expressed
disappointment that an election monitoring commission would
not be established. Khandak also derisively described the
technical commission charged with carrying out the elections
as merely another government tool aimed at controlling the
outcome of the election process.


4. (C) MSP representatives have used the absence of the
monitoring commission to underscore the party's reservations
about the transparency of the November 29 local election
process. In a November 12 meeting with poloff, Laouar
Naamane, president of the MSP's local elections committee,
and Abdelkrim Dahman, responsible for external affairs and
emigration issues, rejected Zerhouni's notion that the
government could not afford a monitoring commission, and
countered that since 2005 MSP had called for a commission
consisting of unpaid members. Removing a financial incentive
to participate increased the independence of the commission's
members, they said. They also believed, however, that it was
too late to create an effective monitoring commission this
year.


5. (C) While the opposition RCD and ruling coalition MSP may
both pine for a monitoring commission, the ruling National
Liberation Front (FLN) seems unconcerned by its absence. In
a November 13 meeting, FLN campaign director Frikha Amara
told poloff that it was up to the political parties to
monitor elections. He added that it would not be possible
for fraud to take place if party representatives were present
at each polling station.

COMMENT: THE FOX IN THE HEN HOUSE
--------------

ALGIERS 00001662 002 OF 002




6. (C) The absence of an official election monitoring
commission is troubling and reflects an ongoing series of
questionable decisions by the Interior Ministry. Zerhouni's
comments on the commission came in a radio interview, not in
a formal statement, and were vague and broad enough to
suggest that, on the one hand, the government was not opposed
to a monitoring commission while, on the other hand, it
expected the commission to be fully responsible for its
members -- including financially. And then there was the
timing of the comments. Zerhouni made them on the first day
of the election campaign, knowing that parties had been
waiting for weeks to learn if the government would form a
monitoring commission and that it would be impossible for a
meaningful monitoring mechanism to be created so close to the
elections. Perhaps less surprising is the FLN's blase
reaction to the absence of the commission. With no
independent structure in place to monitor the elections, the
FLN has nothing to lose and possibly even more to gain.
DAUGHTON