FORMER PM HOLDS MEETING ON ELECTIONS - DEMANDS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CONAKRY 000211

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ASEC GV
SUBJECT: FORMER PM HOLDS MEETING ON ELECTIONS - DEMANDS
DONOR SUPPORT



1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On May 13, former Prime Minister Lansana
Kouyate held a three and a half hour meeting with political
parties to discuss progress towards Guinea's legislative
elections later this year. The discussion focused on four
central issues: the need for donor community support to
cover the remaining $10 million budget gap, voter
registration, campaign financing, and elections timing.
Ambassador Carter asked the PM what the Guinean Government is
doing to cover the funding gap, but the PM sidestepped the
question and later said there is no shame in asking for
assistance. The discussion illustrates that there is little
progress on the same questions that have been circulating for
nearly a year, and that if the elections fail, Guineans will
likely blame the international community. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Joining the PM in the meeting were the president of
the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI),Ben
Sekou Syllah, and the Secretary General of the Ministry of
Interior and Security (MIS),Baillo Diallo. Various
diplomatic missions were represented including the United
Nations, France, Japan, the European Union, Spain, and
ECOWAS. Ambassador Carter attended and was accompanied by
the USAID Director and Poloff. The press were allowed a
brief photo opportunity in the beginning and then awkwardly
escorted out before the meeting began, their muted protests
suggesting that they were not aware that they would be asked
to leave.

--------------
LOOKING FOR SYNERGY
--------------


3. (SBU) The PM apologized for the absence of the Minister
of Interior and Security who he said was away on a trip.
Speaking informally, without prepared remarks, Kouyate told
the group that he wanted to hold the meeting in order to
encourage synergy, assess progress, and identify challenges.

--------------
PROGRESS REPORT
--------------


4. (SBU) On behalf of the Minister, the MIS Secretary
General read a lengthy status report regarding the ministry's
activities with respect to elections. Noting ongoing debates
about voter identification requirements, MIS proposed that
two witnesses could provide adequate proof of identity for
purposes of registering to vote, and that the voter
identification card should be the sole piece of
identification required in order to vote on Election Day.
Turning to the chronogram of preparatory activities, the
Secretary General pointed out that there have already been
some delays, which are mostly due to the delayed arrival of
voter registration kits (supplied by the European Union),but
that the elections will still be held between November 23 and
December 14. The MIS also discussed budgetary issues, and
requested donor assistance in covering a $10.7 million
funding gap.


5. (SBU) On behalf of the CENI, Ben Syllah also provided a
status report on recent activities, including the recent
installation of local-level electoral commissions. Syllah
said that the CENI has had to increase its operating budget
by 17% for unanticipated programmatic expenses as well as to
cover inflationary costs for fuel and other organizational
supplies. (COMMENT. Subsequent discussion indicated that the
CENI's additional budgetary request was not reflected in the
MIS funding gap, which means that the total budget gap is
more in the neighborhood of $14.7 million).


6. (SBU) During the ensuing discussion, political party
representatives repeatedly raised shared concerns, which
focused on the funding gap, voter registration and
identification, campaign financing, and timing.

-------------- -
DONOR COMMUNITY NEEDS TO PUT MORE INTO THE POT
-------------- -


7. (SBU) Political party after political party requested
that the donor community come up with the funds to cover the
$10 million funding gap. Several representatives expressed
concern over the timing and organization of the elections if
the funding issues are not resolved soon. Although most
participants, including the PM, seemed to feel that the donor
community is the only answer, at least two political parties
said that they were ashamed and/or embarrassed that Guinea

CONAKRY 00000211 002 OF 003


could not fund its own elections.

--------------
VOTER IDENTIFICATION
--------------


8. (SBU) Most political parties were concerned about voter
registration issues, but for different reasons. Some parties
argued that voters should be required to present a national
identification card, in addition to their voter card, because
otherwise Sierra Leonians and Liberians could easily vote in
Guinean elections. Other parties said that the voter card
should be the only piece of identification required in order
to avoid opportunities for fraud. Still other parties said
that both cards should be required, but the international
community could facilitate the process by issuing national
i.d. cards when they issue the voter cards. Several
participants, including the PM and the MIS Secretary General,
urged the assembled group to decide the issue that same day,
but the meeting adjourned with no discussion of a vote, or
consensus decision.

--------------
CAMPAIGN FINANCING
--------------


9. (SBU) Several parties raised the issue of campaign
financing and asked that the government fulfill its legal
obligation to provide funds to political parties, as per the
legislation that was voted into law by the National Assembly
in May 2007. Ousmane Bah of the Union for Progress and
Renewal (UPR) opposition party, and also the minority leader
within the National Assembly, questioned the legality of the
law, saying that it had not been officially promulgated and
signed by the president. The MIS Secretary General later
said that the legislation became law after ten days even
without the president's signature. (COMMENT. Although
Guinean law provides that approved legislation becomes law
after 10 days regardless of whether the president signs it or
not, in practice, Guineans generally wait for the president's
official blessing. END COMMENT). The PM told the political
parties that he had already directed the Minister of Finance
to release the promised funds, totaling $333,000. "The
procedure is in process," he said.

--------------
ELECTIONS TIMING
--------------


10. (SBU) Related to the elections chronogram and delays in
getting the voter registration process under way, several
political parties expressed concern over whether the
elections could be held as currently scheduled. Some were
critical of the donor community because of its role in the
voter registration process. One party representative pointed
out that the voter registration process would not start until
late June, just when the rainy season starts to take off,
making it difficult to complete the process according to
schedule. Another party representative said that the most
important thing is to have a "good election," implying that
the actual date is less important.

--------------
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
--------------


11. (SBU) The United Nations Resident Representative
stressed the need for an effective civic education campaign,
preferably before the voter registration kits are put into
service. The EU Ambassador echoed concerns about voter
education, and announced that the EU plans to contribute an
additional $2 million euros, which they had not yet discussed
with the Guinean Government. The PM called on Ambassador
Carter and jokingly asked if he wanted to announce any plans
for U.S. assistance. Ambassador Carter said that the U.S. is
planning to finance over $4 mllion in various elections
activities, which wasnot reflected in the MIS budget. He
also pointed out that Guinea's contribution to the cost of
naional elections represents only 27%of the total budget.
He asked him point blank "Mr. PM, what you are going to do to
cover this gap?"

--------------
CENI PUSHES BACK
--------------


12. (SBU) When the PM asked the CENI to address some of the

CONAKRY 00000211 003 OF 003


political parties' concerns, in good humor, Ben Syllah said
"I think I mostly heard thanks and compliments for what the
CENI is doing." However, Syllah stressed that the parties
have not been participating as actively as they should be in
the preparatory activities. He reminded the participants
that the CENI is composed of political parties and said "I
advise you to correct any imperfections in future elections."
Regarding the issue of campaign financing, Syllah encouraged
each party to send five representatives to the table to
negotiate the distribution of funds.

--------------
PM LECTURES ON DEMOCRACY
--------------


13. (SBU) Before closing the meeting, the PM lectured for
some 20 minutes about democracy as he essentially justified
Guinea's poor showing with respect to elections financing.
Although he said that his first priority is to find money to
cover the funding gap, his subsequent comments indicated that
he expects to get that money from the donor community. He
said that every country present in the room had benefited
from foreign aid at one time or another, and Guinea should
not be ashamed to request assistance in order to strengthen
its democracy.

--------------
NO PLACE FOR WOMEN
--------------


14. (SBU) In a room of more than sixty people, there were
only three Guinean women present, and none of them were
sitting at the negotiating table. All of the political
parties were represented by men. At one point during the
discussion, an elderly political party representative
complained about the large number of "young girls" the CENI
hired to staff the local electoral commissions and voter
registration teams. Ben Syllah told them that "we decided in
this same room to do that." He then encouraged the parties
to increase the number of women on their candidate lists,
which they had also discussed as a group. That comment
elicited loud grumblings from the group, with several parties
shaking their heads vehemently.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


15. (SBU) Although lengthy and often times repetitive, the
meeting was useful in the sense that it brought everyone
together to focus on key issues. However, the amount of
discussion over recurring issues that have yet to be
resolved, despite nearly a year of talking about them,
suggests that there is much to be done before Election Day.
The PM and the MIS called for the group to decide on several
of these issues, but the group did not address them in an
organized way.


16. (SBU) It is becoming increasingly clear that Guineans
are looking to the international community to fund, organize,
and guarantee their legislative elections. If the elections
fail or are delayed, the international community will likely
be blamed. The Guinean Government's abysmal demonstration of
financial support, especially for the CENI, is disheartening.
The table below represents the GoG's election budget as
presented on May 13. END COMMENT.

-------------- --
TABLE: GOG ELECTIONS BUDGET AS OF MAY 13, 2008
-------------- --

Government of Guinea
General Support $8.6 million
CENI $0.1 million
TOTAL $8.7 million

International Partners
Voter Kits (EU and UN) $6.0 million
CENI and MIS (EU and UN) $1.1 million
France $0.1 million
ECOWAS $0.5 million
United Arab Emirates $2.8 million
TOTAL $10.5 million

Funding Gap $10.7 million
CARTER