GUINEA'S ELECTION PILOT COMMITTEE BEGINS WORK

UNCLAS CONAKRY 001038

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12598: N/A
TAGS: PREL PREL KDEM ASEC GV
SUBJECT: GUINEA'S ELECTION PILOT COMMITTEE BEGINS WORK



1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The piloting committee for the upcoming
legislative elections met for the first time on Thursday, September

13. The government provided a budget and partial schedule for
pre-election activities. The Interior Minister requested more money
to fund voter registration and elections, but was unable to provide
a firm date for elections. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) On September 13, Econoff attended the first meeting of the
Committee de Pilotage (elections steering committee.) The committee
was formed to provide a forum for the government and its partners
(United Nations (UN),European Union (EU),USA, and Japan) to
monitor voter registration and organization of the next legislative
elections. (Voter registration and the elections themselves will be
conducted by an independent elections committee known locally as the
CENI.)


3. (SBU) The piloting committee is chaired by the Mamadou Beau
Keita, Minister of Interior and Security, and includes Ousmane Dore,
the Minister of Finance, Justin Morel Junior, the Minister of
Communications, Abdoul Kabele Camara, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and Paulette Kourouma, Minister of Justice. However, at
this first meeting, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance
were not in attendance.


4. (SBU) The partners attending this first committee meeting were
the EU, the UN, Japan and the U.S.


5. (SBU) Minister Keita provided budget figures for the election.
(Exchange rate: 4000 GnF/1$)

Total Electoral Budget: 79,884,122,020 FG ($19,971,028.00);

Voter registration: 41,377,007,560 FG ($10,344,251.00);

Organization of the elections: 38,507,114,460 FG ($9,626,778.00).

Guinea's contribution: 15 billion FG ($3,750,000.00).


6. (SBU) Interior Minister Keita also released schedules for some
pre-election preparation, but explicitly refused to specify a firm
date for the elections. He stated that it was impossible to select
a date at this time due to the unknown delivery date for computers
needed for pre-election activities. He was also unable to specify a
date for the next meeting of the steering committee.


7. (SBU) The Interior Minister announced that the political parties
have agreed on the designation of their two remaining members (out
of ten) to the independent elections committee (CENI) and had
promised to send the list to his Ministry by September 14.


8. (SBU) Finally, M. Keita requested for the holding of another
donor's conference to accelerate the mobilization of financial
resources for the elections. He concluded by repeating his
Ministry's commitment to organize free and democratic elections
whose results will be accepted by all.


9. (SBU) The UN representative, Ms. MBaranga, stated her
satisfaction with the progress already accomplished. However, she
also expressed her concerns as to the enormous tasks lying ahead,
and the expectations of the population for this process, so
important for Guinea's political future.


10. (SBU) COMMENT. The whisper date for elections had slipped from
December to January, and now appears drifting towards March 2008.
The schedule provided at the meeting has built-in some pre-election
voter registration preparations for December, so conducting the
election would still be some way off. The good news is that a
budget and partial financing are in place, and the holding of fair
and transparent elections has the attention of the government.
Furthermore, the completion of the nominations to the CENI removes a
major obstacle to election preparation. Meanwhile, this piloting
committee will provide the partners with regular, direct access to
the election decision-makers to communicate their concerns. What is
yet to be seen is Guinea's commitment (and ability) to follow
through on their plans. The government knows the right words to
say, the question becomes will they put those words into action.
END COMMENT.

BROKENSHIRE