ELECTION DAY DETAILS HAZY; EDO INEC PREPARING FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000241 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA, DS/IP/AF, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC WARSAW FOR LISA PIASCIK CIUDAD JUAREZ FOR DONNA BLAIR ISTANBUL FOR TASHAWNA SMITH SAO PAULO FOR ANDREW WITHERSPOON DOE FOR GPERSON, CAROLYN GAY TREASURY FOR ASEVERENS, SRENENDER, DFIELDS COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS STATE PASS USTR FOR ASST USTR FLISER STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR MARAD STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART STATE PASS TDA FOR NCABOT STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: NI PGOV PREL PTER SUBJECT: ELECTION DAY DETAILS HAZY; EDO INEC PREPARING FOR ELECTIONS LAGOS 00000241 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Summary: The Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (ESIEC) has not yet received guidance from the Independent National Electoral Commission on how to conduct the April 14 or 21 elections. ESIEC is preparing for the elections by identifying and training polling station agents and by merging the manual and electronic voter registration lists. Long-term observers from the National Democratic Institute agree that Benin City will be the epicenter of a fierce race for the Edo State governorship. End Summary. -------------- April 14 and 21 Election Day Details Unknown -------------- ¶2. Gregory Ogban, Head of Technical Services at the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (ESIEC),told Poloffs on March 19 that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had not announced what voting process would be used April 14 and 21. He said the difficulties ESIEC experienced with registration machines and printers during voter registration suggest there will be significant challenges on voting day. Ogban said polling stations would have ballots so voters could cast votes by hand but was unsure whether ESIEC would receive electronic machines. He said the presidential and governorship ballots would display the candidates' pictures, which he believes will facilitate the voting process for some voters. ¶3. Edo currently has 2,629 polling units. Ogban predicted Abuja would give Edo some of the additional 30,000 polling stations which have been slated for 2007. (Note: Ogban did not know how many additional stations Edo would receive nor how this number would be determined. End Note.) The new stations would be placed in new development areas, Ogban said. While there will be polling stations throughout Edo's local government areas (LGAs),densely populated areas will have more stations. ¶4. Ogban said each polling station will announce the voting results for constituency elections (Senate and House of Assembly) before sending them to their ward's collating center. The voting results would then be sent to the state headquarters and INEC. Ogban predicted the results would be verbally announced at every step and transmitted electronically, although he said the transmission devices have not yet been distributed. Unlike constituency elections, the results for the presidential and governorship elections will not be announced but will instead be sent directly to INEC in Abuja. This contravenes the 2006 Electoral Act which stipulates that all results must be announced at the polling place, he said. It is unlikely the voting results would be submitted simultaneously nationwide, Ogban reasoned, because remote stations would close early once all votes from registered voters had been cast. -------------- ...But Preparation for Elections Underway -------------- ¶5. Edosians will cast their votes at polling stations located in the same location where they registered, Ogban said. When asked for a list of the locations for polling stations, Ogban said such a list was unavailable because polling stations are determined by each local government. By LAGOS 00000241 002.2 OF 002 mid March, ESIEC will begin training ad hoc poll workers drawn from among civil servants, teachers, INEC staff, and university professors who will man the polling stations. To ensure that the poll workers are nonpartisan, ESIEC will send workers' names to the State Security Service (SSS) for background checks. Ogban estimated three ad hoc personnel would be present at each polling station. There will also be one representative from each political party, as well as domestic and international observers, Ogban predicted. INEC has not yet provided details as to how observers may operate, he said. ¶6. ESIEC is processing manual and electronic registrations and correcting misspellings and incorrect photos, according to Imoudu-Sule, Head of Public Affairs at ESIEC. Approximately 45 percent of the population in Edo has registered, she said. ¶7. Ogban and Imoudu-Sule do not anticipate much election-related violence in Edo State, although they noted three local government areas (LGAs) in Benin City (Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, and Egor) are most likely to exhibit "irregular activity." In a subsequent interview, the Edo State Police Commissioner, B.A. Hassan said it was unlikely violence would be a problem. However, the two leading candidates for governor, Adams Oshiomole with the Action Congress (AC) and Oserheimen Osunbor with the People's Democratic Party (PDP), told Poloffs their opponents have already instigated violence in the course of their campaigns. -------------- NDI Long-term Observers Begin Edo Assessment -------------- ¶8. Long-term National Democratic Institute (NDI) observers arrived in Edo on March 18. On March 20, the NDI observers told Poloffs that they expected the race between Adams Oshiomole of the Action Congress (AC) and Oserheimen Osunbor of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) to be very close in Benin City. (Note: Oshiomole is from Edo North and Osunbor is from Edo Central. Edo South, where Benin City is located, is expected to be the most hotly contested region of the state. End Note.) NDI is trying to acquire a list of polling stations, the voter register, the number of campaign permits thus far denied, and details of the screening process for ad hoc polling station workers. BROWNE