EAB REPORT ON 2006 ELECTIONS: FREE AND FAIR, BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L GEORGETOWN 000295 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM OAS GY SUBJECT: EAB REPORT ON 2006 ELECTIONS: FREE AND FAIR, BUT NOT TOTALLY ACCURATE Classified By: Ambassador David M. Robinson for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: More than six months after election day, the local Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) released its Final Report on Guyana's 2006 National and Regional Elections. The EAB declared the elections "free and fair" and found the Final Declaration of Results was "largely representative of the collective will of the Guyanese people." Citing discrepencies in vote count totals in two separate regions, however, the EAB stated that they "cannot conclued that the award of (Parliamentary) seats fully reflects the will of the Guyanese people." The Report called on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to review the final results and discuss its findings with the parties that contested the elections. -------------- ELECTIONS WERE FREE AND FAIR -------------- ¶2. (U) Although Guyana's 2006 National and Regional Elections took place last August, it took the EAB more than six months to release their Final Report on the vote. The EAB is an accredited local observer group whose analysis of the Guyanese elections was self-funded. The EAB's 50-page Final Report looked at numerous aspects of the electoral process, including: (1) freedom to campaign; (2) freedom of the media; (3) opportunity to register; (4) disenfranchisement; (5) freedom to vote; (6) multiple voting; (7) polling validity; and (8) additional checks on Returning Officers' and Chief Executive Officers' statements. In conclusion, the EAB's Report reaches the same results as other observers (including the Organization of American States and Commonwealth Secretariat) - the elections were, by and large, "free and SIPDIS fair" and reflective of the collective will of the people. -------------- VOTE DISCREPENCIES WARRANT CONCERN -------------- ¶3. (U) The EAB Report did, however, express concern over discrepencies in the vote count in two of Guyana's ten regions. In analyzing the GECOM's verified Declaration of Results of the Regional Elections, EAB found that disrepencies in Region Five and Region Ten were significant enough that they could have a "material impact" on the award of National Assembly and Regional Democratic Council seats. Due to this fact, the EAB found that they "cannot conclude that the award of the seats fully reflects the will of the Guyanese people." The EAB's Report called on GECOM to review the tabulation of the results and its award of seats. It further suggested that GECOM should invite the political parties which contested the elections to discuss the way forward. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (C) The EAB's Final Report adds little to the overall picture of the 2006 elections-- they reached many of the same conclusions as the other international observer groups. They are, however, the only group to address the discrepencies in the vote count. Using the same information available to the political parties and observer groups, GECOM Chairman Steve Surjubally told the U.S., U.K., Canada, E.U., and U.N. Chiefs of Mission that Guyana's Chief Elections Officer had misreported the election results and had known the results were inaccurate when he gazetted them. However, since neither of the two affected political parties have pursued the issue with any vigor, we are not inclined to do so either. Robinson