VOTER REGISTRATION CONTINUES TO MOVE FORWARD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 001932 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL BG SUBJECT: VOTER REGISTRATION CONTINUES TO MOVE FORWARD DESPITE RECENT SETBACKS REF: DHAKA 1594 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Geeta Pasi, reason 1.4(d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Voter registration is continuing apace, although delays because of slow procurements and Cyclone Sidr have brought the project back into line with its original schedule and future significant delays could jeopardize the government's elections timeline. On the ground, the registration process in Sylhet appears to be moving forward successfully, and turn-out appears to be high. Dhaka registration began in early December, and the process should begin in the Chittagong Hill Tracts early in 2008. END SUMMARY. VOTER REGISTRATION "ON SCHEDULE, BUT NOT AHEAD OF SCHEDULE" ============================================= ============== ¶2. (SBU) Voter registration is progressing apace. On November 27, key donors funding the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)-coordinated voter registration project met with the Election Commission and other Bangladesh government officials for their first project board meeting. (NOTE: The donors present included the United Kingdom's government development agency DFID and the European Commission; the U.S. government is not funding this project. END NOTE) ¶3. (C) According to the Election Commission, approximately nine million people have been registered so far, ten percent of the 90 million they estimate are eligible. (NOTE: Donors believe the total number of eligible voters is actually approximately 80 million. END NOTE) The project is currently registering approximately 250,000 voters per day in different locations throughout the country -- "an impressive pace," according to one donor. Once additional laptop computers arrive in mid-December, that pace is expected to increase to 500,000 voters per day. ¶4. (C) According to DFID, the project is "on schedule but not ahead of schedule." Since Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamshul Huda announced in early October that registration was ahead of schedule, the project has been slowed by a six-week delay in procuring computersand the after-effects of Cyclone Sidr, bringing the schedule back into line with original estimates of a May completion date. Some buffer room remains, since the Commission believes registration must be completed by July for elections to be held in late December. Some donors privately expressed concern after the November 26 meeting, however, that they are less than halfway through the project's schedule and cannot afford any further significant delays. ON-THE-GROUND ASSESSMENT FROM SYLHET ==================================== ¶5. (SBU) POLOFF and USAID recently visited the northeastern city of Sylhet, at the beginning of the registration process there. During the visit, we accompanied voter registration enumerators as they went door-to-door distributing forms, visited two voter registration centers, and met with local officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the main political parties. ¶6. (SBU) The voter registration process appeared to be going well in Sylhet. In 15 of the city's 27 wards or local divisions, voter registration centers were open from October 20 to November 13. Centers opened in the remaining 12 wards on November 16 and were scheduled to close in early December. ¶7. (SBU) We accompanied ward commissioner (city council member) Saleha Kabir Shepi as she went door-to-door through a slum area of Sylhet informing people how to register. Shepi supervised the work of a local teacher hired as an enumerator, whose job it was to distribute registration forms and help prospective voters complete them. The enumerator retained the forms, which would be provided to the voter registration center. ¶8. (SBU) At one point, the enumerator set up a table in the middle of a slum of corrugated iron shacks. The enumerator DHAKA 00001932 002 OF 003 collected information from each voter one by one. Beside her were local political party representatives -- the two who came in second and third in the last election. The three serve together as "verifiers" that the person registering lived in that area. Since most of the people coming up to register had no form of identification, the enumerator took the date of birth, address, and other information, relying on the verifiers to object if the person was providing false information. If an objection arose (for example, over whether the person resided in that area),Saleha would intervene to request further evidence of residency. (NOTE: There is no national identification card in Bangladesh, and many Bangladeshis have no birth certificate or other government-issued form of ID. END NOTE) LOCAL ELECTION COMMISSION ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT PROCESS ============================================= ======= ¶9. (SBU) The local Deputy Election Commissioner, who headed the Sylhet Election Commission office, had served as an election officer for the United Nations in Cambodia in the 1990s. He expressed enthusiasm for the registration process and said no major problems had arisen in Sylhet so far. He said the military were not running the show, but were providing technical support for the effort. He also praised the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the USAID-funded election group JANIPOP, for its work observing the process and providing feedback to the Commission on how to improve the registration process. ¶10. (SBU) The Deputy Commissioner expected fewer people to be on the voter list this time than in the most recent enumeration from 2006 that was invalidated by the High Court. He attributed the reduction in names mostly to the elimination of duplicate voters registered in multiple constituencies. In terms of female registration, he said that even though the area is traditionally conservative, women were coming to the centers and were permitting registration officials to take their photographs. (NOTE: The Election Commission had concerns early on in the registration process that some women might be reluctant to have their photos taken. END NOTE) He said registration workers were ensuring handicapped voters would be registered; they are planning to go door-to-door to register at their homes those persons who cannot come into the centers. ¶11. (SBU) We toured two voter registration centers in central Sylhet. The centers, located in schools, are each responsible for one ward, or approximately 5,000 voters. An average of 300-400 voters per day were coming into the centers during the time we visited. ¶12. (SBU) Both centers we visited were operating smoothly, with local university students running most of the laptops and processing voters at a rate of one every five to ten minutes. At the time we arrived, towards the end of the day, there were no lines. The workers demonstrated the software, and showed how they double-checked data as they input it. They said the main problem was malfunctioning cameras, but that this had not been a major impediment so far. Soldiers were present inside and outside the facilities, although the Deputy Commissioner said they were only providing "technical assistance" and not security. (NOTE: At one point, soldiers objected to us taking photographs, but the Deputy Commissioner overruled them. END NOTE) DHAKA REGISTRATION IN EARLY DECEMBER, CHT EARLY IN 2008 ============================================= ========== ¶13. (C) The registration process began in Dhaka in early December, and is scheduled to ramp up throughout the city over the course of the month. According to local employees who have gone to register, the process appears to be proceeding smoothly and the registration officials have been doing their jobs quickly and efficiently. Recently, however, local employees of an international organization working with elections said when they went to register in Dhaka, they noted the registration center personnel appeared less well-trained than before the ramp-up of elections activities throughout the country, when the Commission was able to focus on a smaller number of centers and staff. DHAKA 00001932 003 OF 003 ¶14. (SBU) Meanwhile, the Election Commission is finalizing plans for registration to begin sometime early in the new year in the three Chittagong Hill Tracts districts. This is perhaps one of the most sensitive places for registration in the country because of the stalled implementation of the peace treaty there, and controversy between indigenous residents and ethnic Bangla "settlers." (NOTE: A 1997 peace treaty, which has yet to be fully implemented, was designed to settle a long and occasionally violent conflict between government forces and indigenous people agitating for greater rights.) The Chief Election Commission said at the November 26 meeting they would be holding public consultations there before registration opens up, in order to address misinformation and confusion over who can register to vote. COMMENT: CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM, REALISTIC TIMEFRAMES ============================================= === ¶15. (C) While voter registration continues to move forward successfully, the concern about a lack of buffer-room in the event of further delays is legitimate and will require attention by the Commission. Many donors were concerned the Chief Election Commissioner's overly optimistic public pronouncements in October that everything was well ahead of schedule, given how early in the process it was. Donors are cautioning the Commissioners to avoid excessive exuberance in the announcing of timeframes from here on out. Still, the Commission's flagship project is being received well in the field, and if it can continue apace, will be a major feather in the caretaker government's cap. Pasi