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.

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VOTER REGISTRATION TO END IN DECEMBER
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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.

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ELECTIONS IN MARCH
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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.

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CLOSING THE BUDGET GAP
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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).

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DEFINING TRANSPARENCY
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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?"

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NO PLANS FOR REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE RESHUFFLE
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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.

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COMMENT
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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