ANGOLA VOTER REGISTRATION: PHASE TWO BEGINS AS GRA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LUANDA 000163

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM AO
SUBJECT: ANGOLA VOTER REGISTRATION: PHASE TWO BEGINS AS GRA
INCREASES FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO ALL POLITICAL PARTIES

REF: 06 LUANDA 1304

Classified By: Amb. Cynthia Efird for reasons 1. 4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) Summary: Phase two of the Angolan voter registration
process began on January 15, 2007 as scheduled, with
operations running smoothly and demand for registration cards
high. After reviewing experiences during the month-long first
phase, where over 945,000 were registered, the GRA has
reevaluated and downsized the number of registration brigades
needed to successfully carry out the process and based on the
prospect of 2008 elections, has expanded the registration
process to include all those turning eighteen by January 1,

2008. The CNE has revamped and relaunched its election
process website to include electoral legislation and visits
of foreign officials, including AF/DAS Carol Thompson.


2. (C) At the same time the GRA, as a result of ongoing
discussions with opposition parties over the past two years,
has decided to spend over USD 25 Million to support the more
than one hundred officially recognized Angolan political
parties. Parties will receive payments of USD 200,000 each
to support their voter registration monitoring activities.
The big winners of this process are the smaller parties that
never planned to fully monitor voter registration and the two
largest parties (the MPLA and UNITA) with the necessary
resources to monitor the registration process. The big
losers are the smaller parties with representation in
Congress that sought to increase their representation in
Congress (taking seats already held by UNITA and the MPLA),
but lacked independent funding for their activities. End
Summary.

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Phase Two Begins Smoothly and on Time
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3. (U) The Government of Angola began phase two of voter
registration on January 15, 2007 as scheduled. During this
phase, 509 registration teams, or &brigades,8 will cover
every municipality in Angola, in comparison to the first
phase when only 295 brigades registered almost one million
citizens but were centered in provincial capitals and
selected main towns. The Interministerial Commission for
Elections (CIPE) and the National Electoral commission (CNE)
evaluated the first phase of the voter registration campaign,
and concluded that 509 brigades would suffice to complete the
nationwide voter registration versus the 2000 brigades
originally planned. In addition, CIPE announced that mobile
brigades will only be deployed to reach outlying villages and
communities towards the end of the registration period. The
CIPE also amended regulations to allow all those who will be
eighteen years of age by January 1, 2008, to register versus
the original regulation which allowed only those already
eighteen years or older to register.

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Demand High and Processing Becoming More Efficient
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4. (SBU) Ambassador Efird visited a registration center in
remote Cuando Cubango Province on January 31, 2007, and while
the processing itself was fairly smooth, the waiting area was
crowded and she spoke with a citizen who had waited in line
seven hours to register. In Cuando Cubango, the Ambassador
noted the presence of party monitors as well as the soba
(village authority) and a clergy representative for identity
verification as needed. Ambassador Efird also visited a
registration center in Huambo province, unannounced, on
February 7, and found the system working efficiently, though
many would-be registrants were waiting for long periods in
line. On February 6, P/E chief spoke to the director for a
registration center in the Rangel neighborhood of Luanda who
verified that the actual registration process was being
completed in a matter of minutes. However, in contrast to
the provincial experience, the director noted that the influx
of registrants had slowed and there were no lines at her
particular center. Embassy Luanda has also received reports
of local NGO representatives in the provinces successfully
serving as witnesses for undocumented, but known, individuals
in order to provide proof of identification.


5. (SBU) The CNE recently revamped/relaunched its website
which can be found at www.cne.gv.ao and contains information
on electoral legislation, statistics on the 1992 elections, a
listing of political parties, and the composition of the CNE
and its legal status. In addition, it features pictures and
stories on the voter registration process and articles of
international visitors to the CNE, including AF/DAS Carol
Thompson and a delegation of Belgian Parliamentarians. CNE
Director Caetano de Sousa informally asked Embassy Luanda for
feedback on the site and told us that he hoped to have the

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site available in English as well. De Sousa also told us he
is working with the CIPE to put the registration tally on the
website. Note: CIPE, at the insistence of the CNE and civil
society, is re-evaluating how to give more periodic reports
on the progress of registration throughout the five-month
long second phase. No official tally is available at this
time beyond the just over 945,000 registered in phase one
(reftel). End Note.

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Government Assistance to Party Monitoring
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6. (SBU) CIPE also announced that the GRA would pay each
official party USD 200,000 to support accredited party
monitors during the registration process. Party monitors are
present in the registration stations and observe the
registration process. Major opposition party leaders had
earlier sought assistance from the Government as well as from
the US and other bilateral missions for supporting their
respective party monitors with transportation and meal
stipends. An initial GRA proposal that would have supported
all parties in Congress was widely repudiated as favoring too
few parties. The new proposal covers all parties equally. In
general, party monitors are unpaid, though some of the
parties are able to provide a small allowance to each monitor
of between USD 100 and 150 per month. The parties are
responsible for providing food and transportation stipends
for their respective monitors. Note: Official registration
brigade workers are paid and provided with transportation and
meal stipends. End Note.


7. (SBU) Opposition parties met with CIPE Director Virgilio
Fontes Pereira to discuss the possibility of meal and
transportation support for their monitors. In response to
Pereira,s question on what type of support would be most
beneficial to parties, the major parties, i.e., those parties
which actually have monitors, all expressed a desire for food
and transport stipends. However, an overwhelming number of
the 126 Angolan parties wanted a flat payment and thus
carried the decision. Thus, the GRA will provide USD 200,000
per party so each can more fully participate in the
registration process. However, most observers do not expect
that the government will track how the small opposition
parties spend their money, or require money not spent on
observation to be returned to the government. The majority
of the Angola,s official parties constitute no more than
&mom and pop8 parties, formed in the 1990s when the
government gave annual support stipends to parties. Note.
Both the MPLA and UNITA, which feel that they have sufficient
party funds to cover monitoring, were silent during the
debate. End Note.


8. (U) Doing the Math: Parties with accredited registration
monitors ideally have one representative per brigade, or 509
workers. The average cost of a bus ride in Luanda is USD one
) two dollars each way and a hot lunch cost about five
dollars. This amounts to about USD 160 ) 180 per worker per
month or cost per party of over USD 400,000 for the next five
months. There is no assurance that the GRA will provide
additional payments should the registration period be
extended. Total Cost to the GRA ) over USD 25 Million (126
parties at 200,000 each).

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Comment
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9. (C) The main beneficiaries of the new GRA program are the
over 100 small parties that suddenly received a USD 200,000
bonus. UNITA and the MPLA are also winners in that the
parties that might have challenged them, the newer
up-and-coming parties with a representation in Congress which
were starting to gain traction do not have the funds or
investors necessary to mount a national presence during
registration. These parties (such as the PRS, the PRD,
PADEPA, etc.) were counting on the government to help finance
their participation in registration. They also hoped to use
the monitoring activity as a way of giving their parties
national coverage. The stipends also would have helped give
party faithful some remuneration for their efforts. Perhaps
the biggest winner is the GRA, which by taking an apparently
open democratic approach (a flat fee for all),acted on
opposition concerns, in a way that discourages new parties
that could challenge the MPLA's electoral base (or
incidentally UNITA,s base).
EFIRD