GOG SAYS IT IS ON TRACK TO HOLD ELECTIONS IN MARCH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000713 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL ASEC GV SUBJECT: GOG SAYS IT IS ON TRACK TO HOLD ELECTIONS IN MARCH ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The new secretary general of the Ministry of Territorial Administration says that the voter registration process will be completed by the end of December, and that the government is on track to hold its legislative elections in March. Despite contact's optimism, the process of obtaining the required presidential decree to actually set an election date may not be as straightforward as he anticipates. Contact appeared to be counting on the internationally funded voter registration process as a guarantee of transparency, and had not considered ways to address alternate opportunities for election fraud. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Poloff met with the new Secretary General of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Political Affairs (MATAP),Abou Cheri Camara, on November 18. Camara was appointed to his position on August 27. His predecessor had been in the position for more than 15 years and had overseen every one of Guinea's past elections, all of which had major flaws. Poloff has encountered Camara several times at various events, but this was her first formal meeting with him. -------------- VOTER REGISTRATION TO END IN DECEMBER -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Camara said that the voter registration process is underway and on track to be completed by the end of December. He acknowledged that the process has encountered several challenges since it was launched in August, but that "more than 70% of these issues have since been resolved." Camara said the biggest problem at this point is that the voter registration equipment frequently breaks down and is difficult to maintain. He added that ink shortages have also been slowing the process down. With respect to MATAP's delay in getting per diem payments out to registrars, Camara assured Poloff that all the payments had already been dispatched to the voter registration teams throughout the interior. -------------- ELECTIONS IN MARCH -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Once the voter registration process has been completed, Camara said that the GoG should be able to set an election date. He noted that Guinean law requires a presidential decree announcing elections 70 days before they are scheduled to take place. According to Camara, the decree should follow shortly after the registration process is completed in December, meaning that the elections should be scheduled for sometime in March. -------------- CLOSING THE BUDGET GAP -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Poloff asked about the status of the remaining budgetary gap of approximately 6 million euros, which the GoG has frequently raised as an obstacle to firmly establishing an election date. Camara said that this issue has essentially been resolved since various donors, including Japan, Canada, the European Union, and France, plan to announce additional contributions to help close the gap. (COMMENT. The World Bank representative to Guinea told Poloff later that evening that the additional contributions will cover approximately half of the remaining gap. However, other GoG contacts have indicated that the government is working to cut extraneous expenses from the budget, which will also contribute to closing the gap. END COMMENT). -------------- DEFINING TRANSPARENCY -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Camara emphasized that the GoG's number one priority is to hold elections and that this is his sole current objective as secretary general of MATAP. Poloff said that it is not only a matter of holding elections, but of holding transparent, free, credible elections. Camara agreed, saying that the improved voter registration process ensures that the elections will be transparent. Poloff stressed that while voter registration is a critical part of the process, the GoG will need to be equally vigilant on other fronts. As examples, Poloff pointed out that observer teams should play a critical role and that the process of counting votes should also be carefully considered in order to avoid fraud. Camara said that observer teams have CONAKRY 00000713 002 OF 002 participated in past elections and will do so again. He did not offer any comment on counting procedures. (COMMENT. The USG has funding in place to support domestic election observation activities. END COMMENT). ¶7. (SBU) Later in the meeting, Camara proudly pointed to a sample voter box that was still partially encased in packaging material. The box was made of transparent plastic with holes for several locks around the lid. Camara said "see, is this not absolutely transparent?" -------------- - NO PLANS FOR REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE RESHUFFLE -------------- - ¶8. (SBU) Poloff noted that the GoG had recently been making a number of changes to key administrative positions in the government and asked if there were any plans to replace the prefects and governors that had been appointed by former Prime Minister Kouyate. Camara said that the GoG does not plan to replace these officials across the board just because they were appointed by the previous administration. He said that some individuals may be replaced on a case by case basis because of performance issues, as was recently the case with the prefect and governor of Boke. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Camara was optimistic that election preparations are advancing smoothly and anticipated no further delays. However, getting the official decree out of the president's office may not be as easy as Camara intimates, and nothing is likely to move forward until that decree is issued. Camara's comments about transparency suggest that the GoG is relying on the internationally funded voter registration process to ensure that the elections are fair. He did not seem to have considered other avenues of fraud, and although the National Independent Electoral Commission should be the main actor in preventing fraud, MATAP will also need to be involved. END COMMENT. RASPOLIC