OAS TO REOPEN VOTER REGISTRATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001198

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR
S/CRS
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR
INR/IAA
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HA
SUBJECT: OAS TO REOPEN VOTER REGISTRATION

REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1134

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1. (U) Summary: The Organization of American States (OAS)
is working with the Ministry of Justice's national identity
office (ONI) to reopen voter registration inside existing
civil registry offices. The OAS, though short of funding,
plans to begin registration in August but does not expect a
large number of new voters. The provisional electoral
council (CEP),however, has exhibited some resistance to
relinquishing authority over voter registration to ONI. The
OAS cited the need to trim the number of employees and keep
election costs down, but would like to continue working with
some electoral staff to institutionalize electoral
procedures. End summary.

Voter Registration and Civil Registry
--------------


2. (U) OAS technical expert Felix Ortega on June 27 told
poloffs that the OAS and the national identity office (ONI)
will begin opening 150 regional voter registration offices
during the first week of August. (Note: Voter registration
has been closed since October 2005. End note.) The GoH
decided that after the elections cycle, ONI would manage all
voter registration. ONI has existed as a division of the
Ministry of Justice since fall 2005, but only has about 10
employees. ONI will now convert the 182 civil registry
offices, with a total of 600 employees, into combination
voter registration/civil registry centers. Ortega reported
that the provisional electoral council (CEP) members resisted
the authority transfer to the point where Prime Minister
Alexis and Minister of Justice Rene Magloire sent an official
letter to the CEP informing them that they will no longer be
in charge of voter registration.


3. (U) Ortega estimated that between 500,000 and 700,000 new
voters will register in the first two months of operation,
mostly people who have turned 18 since registration closed in

2005. The OAS is preparing the system for an intake of one
million people over the initial two-month time span, but
capacity can easily be increased, according to Ortega. He
said that CEP president Max Mathurin's estimate of two
million new registered voters is excessive, because most
people who wanted to register did so during the previous
registration period. Ortega estimated that the OAS needs USD
17 million over two years to support the voter registration
and civil registry project. To date, they have USD 3 million
pledged by Canada.

Electoral Council and Staff
--------------


4. (U) The OAS's main priority now is working with mid-level
civil servants at the CEP, according to Ortega. These
employees are the stable core of the institution, whereas the
council members are term-limited. Ortega would like to train
the mid-level employees so that the CEP functions efficiently
regardless of the council members, but stated that the GoH
needs to provide job security so that each new council does
not try to replace all existing civil servants. Working with
the mid-level employees would also allow the OAS to begin
preparations for the Senate elections before the creation of
a permanent CEP, including set up of the tabulation center,
political party registration and ballot preparation.

Elections Budget
--------------


5. (U) Ortega noted that over the next five years, Haiti is
due to hold 11 elections at a cost of USD 185 million. To
economize, the CEP needs to downsize its headquarters as well
as regional offices. The communal electoral offices (French
acronym BEC) have 600 employees with little or no tasks
between elections, and so should only be hired on a temporary
basis during election cycles. Additionally, ONI will not
need all 2500 employees hired by the CEP to operate
registration centers. Ortega estimated ONI only needs 500
regional workers.


6. (U) Comment: Working with the CEP staff is essential to

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the future of the institution and Haitian elections in
general. While the council is necessary for making final
decisions on challenges to the elections results, it does not
carry responsibility for the logistical process of elections.
The OAS is also correct that the elections staff is
unnecessarily large, but as with other GoH entities, firing
state employees is a controversial undertaking.
SANDERSON