WATERING THE GRASS ROOTS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000551 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR RCBUDDEN, INR/B E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KDEM BF SUBJECT: WATERING THE GRASS ROOTS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER MITCHELL REF: A. NASSAU 516 ¶B. NASSAU 435 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. D. Brent Hardt for reasons 1.4(b ) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Poloff observed last-minute campaigning by Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell in his hotly-contested Fox Hill constituency. With small constituencies of only about 4000 people, candidates know voters by name, and are expected to visit with each voter personally. The result is a democratic system that affords everyday Bahamians incredible access to Government, and gives representatives intimate knowledge of the concerns and needs of the people they represent. In one sense, it is the classic model of Athenian democracy. However, the system creates sometimes irresistible temptations for corruption as needy residents base their votes not on national policy or constituency leadership, but who can put the most in their pockets. It also focuses politicians away from larger policy issues towards local minutia, which helps explain the sometimes frustrating lack of action within the Bahamian Cabinet on issues of concern to the U.S. and often to foreign investors. Mitchell is ill at ease with the personal interaction of grass-roots politics, but he balances this with cunning strategic planning, making his reelection uncertain and, as confirmed by his own maps, too close to call. END SUMMARY. ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL -------------- ¶2. (U) In the final push to May 2 elections, Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell invited Poloff to walk his constituency with him April 29. With 41 constituencies dividing only 150,000 voters nationally, each candidate has only about 4,000 voters in his or her district. While it varies, Minister Mitchell's staff estimates that only about 2,000 voters are in play in each constituency, with many candidates ultimately separated by only a couple of hundred votes. With elections turning on hundreds of votes, candidates walk the neighborhoods, seeking support one living room at a time. COMMENT: Poloff was clear to register U.S. neutrality in the contest, as was Minister Mitchell with his constituents. Pol Chief has also toured with an FNM candidate in the neighboring constituency to avoid any suggestion of favoritism. END COMMENT. ¶3. (C) With so few votes in play, Mitchell knew each voter by name, and his campaign staff of three had detailed maps showing each home, shaded red or yellow depending on their anticipated vote. As we moved house to house, each voter invited us into their formal living rooms, often offering refreshments. The voters clearly had the upper hand and knew it. Mitchell, not warm and sympathetic by nature, was obviously uncomfortable with deeply personal interactions with the voters. Outside their homes, however, he shined, engaging in detailed strategy discussions, planning neighborhood events and deftly directing campaign activities with staff. POLITICIAN AS SAVIOR, PSYCHOLOGIST AND SUGAR DADDY -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) As we entered each voter's formal salon, they proceeded to regale Mitchell with their problems. A few wanted to talk issues, but most were eager to petition Mitchell for help as a serf may have done when granted access to his feudal lord. "How are you Mavis," asked Mitchell from the plastic-covered couch, tea in hand. "My mother is still dead, Fred, but God bless you for coming to the funeral. I just hope we can pay for it, maybe with PLP help." Mitchell, who says he attends between two and five constituent funerals every Saturday throughout the year, shifted uneasily as he asked his campaign worker to take a note. "I'll get back to you. Hang in there. You still with us?" Another voter, whose daughter was stricken with cancer, invited us in for more tea. "I can't pay for medical bills and the power. God help me." Mitchell responded with discussion of the PLP National Health Insurance Plan, avoiding the implied request for financial help. Another voter, again with more tea, went straight to the heart of the matter: "In 1997, I voted FNM, but I got nothin'. When I voted PLP in 2002, it paid my phone bills. It got my brother a job. The PLP - they care about the real people." ¶5. (C) A frustrated Mitchell privately explained: "This is Bahamian politics. You want to talk about issues and they want to take whatever they can get. You want to help, you want to ease pain, and you must show that you care to get elected. But there is a line they want you to cross." A campaign worker acknowledged that the line is sometimes crossed: "People get bills paid, appliances are bought, cash changes hands. It happens, but we don't do it." Asked about the woman whose bills were apparently paid by Mitchell in 2002, the worker said that helping people in need was different than buying votes, "Her son was killed, she has no husband, she needed help." Mitchell openly complained that his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service put him in a particularly bad position during the campaign. "Everyone wants a government job. I wish I didn't have the public service portfolio and I could tell them nothing could be done." Mitchell also acknowledged, however, that his public service portfolio was busiest during the campaign -- taking him away from the road for hours a day as he signs for new perks and jobs. LOCAL DOMINATES THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL -------------- - ¶6. (C) The focus on the individual in campaigning carries over to broader Bahamian politics. "Now you know why we can't get to international agreements in Cabinet. We are too busy working on benches," said Minister Mitchell after a voter complained about the state of repair of public benches on her street. Indeed, the Bahamian Cabinet is notoriously overburdened, unable to ratify important international agreements or national policy items as it considers road paving, speed bumps (a voter favorite),stop lights and other issues important to the local population and vital for reelection. (Comment: The opposition FNM has promised to create a local government for Nassau to ease the burden of these local issues on national government. End Comment.) GRASS ROOTS SHOWS STRONG DEMOCRACY, STRONG POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) COMMENT: Mitchell claimed to have the race in Fox Hill locked up, but Poloff's glance at Mitchell's shaded maps counting support home by home told the story of a very close race. Mitchell's unease with personal politics cannot be helpful to him in The Bahamian system, but it is likely balanced by his strategic planning and the assistance of a dedicated campaign staff. In such a close race - common in The Bahamas because of the small constituencies and important role of swing voters - every vote counts. A well-meaning politician could easily be confused between legal attempts to assist those in need and illegal vote buying. A dishonest politician, of which there are more than a few in The Bahamas, has ample opportunity for corruption. Mitchell sits somewhere in between, and along with the rest of the candidates, would benefit in future elections from national anti-corruption and good governance legislation. HARDT