"THE ANGOLAN" ELECTORAL NEWS BULLETIN, VOL. IV

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LUANDA 000616

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL AO
SUBJECT: "THE ANGOLAN" ELECTORAL NEWS BULLETIN, VOL. IV

REF: LUANDA 0585

Classified By: AMB DAN MOZENA FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (SBU) In This Issue:

- Media Space Tightens with Halt to Radio Call-In Shows

- MPLA and UNITA Shine, Others Stumble at Starting Gate

- The Trouble with Campaign Financing

- Extended School Closure During Electoral Period


Media Space Tightens with Halt to Radio Call-In Shows
-------------- --------------


2. (C) In what appears to be an attempt to manage public
dialogue, National Radio has halted most live radio call-in
shows in the lead-up to the September 5 legislative
elections. Journalists privately told the Embassy that the
few programs that will remain on-air will feature only
scripted and screened calls. Embassy sources confirmed that
in a recent closed-door meeting, Manuel Rabelais, the
Minister of Social Communications, instructed journalists to
suspend the shows for the duration of the electoral period.
Rabelais has publicly denied these allegations, but the shows
remain off the air. Catholic Church-run Radio Ecclesia has
also chosen to suspend live call-in shows during the election
period. Ecclesia sources told the Embassy that their
decision has nothing to do with GRA pressure, but rather
their concern that live call-in shows could be monopolized by
small political parties that have limited media space in
which to air their gripes. Radio LAC and Radio Despertar,
which are respectively owned by MPLA and UNITA supporters,
have continued to air live call-in shows.

MPLA and UNITA Shine, Others Stumble at Starting Gate
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) Small opposition parties stumbled at the starting
gate of the 30-day official campaign period, which kicked off
August 5th. Electoral law gives each party five free minutes
of daily airtime on national television and ten minutes on
national radio, but UNITA and the MPLA were the only parties
to use their airtime as a platform to present their campaign
themes professionally and clearly. UNITA's President Isaias
Samakuva took subtle yet effective swings at the ruling party
in presenting UNITA's "Program of Change," noting that people
shouldn't have to pay bribes for access to education and
health care, and that businesses should not be owned only "by
the elite, always the same elite." The MPLA's TV spot and
campaign slogan, "MPLA: The Safe Route to a Better Angola,"
effectively sums up the ruling party's pitch that the team to
lead the country should be the one with a proven track record
in national reconciliation and reconstruction. The ruling
party's spot utilized announcers and footage drawn from state
media sources and a government-owned production studio to
produce its state-of-the-art ad campaign.


4. (SBU) Most other parties merely showed how ill prepared
they are for the campaign; only FNLA and FpD showed some
level of production value for at least part of their time
slot. Others appeared to be recorded on camcorders and
home-edited; Nova Democracia simply put up a powerpoint
presentation and PDP-ANA presented nothing at all. Many
parties burnt up their airtime playing music and showing the
party's flag; FNLA discussed the party's history through the
1960's and then spent two minutes showing silent footage of
founder Holden Robert's funeral.

The Trouble with Campaign Financing
--------------


5. (SBU) Opposition parties claim their ability to campaign
effectively has been hampered by a lack of campaign financing
and have lambasted the GRA for its "late" distribution of the
1.2 million USD allotted by the state for each party running
in the campaign. Parties argue the GRA has violated the
electoral law, which calls for the distribution of campaign
financing 60 days before the campaign starts. UNITA has
threatened to pursue legal action against the GRA for this
perceived violation of electoral law. For its part, the
National Electoral Commission argues that another section of
the law states that campaign financing will only be
distributed to parties found eligible to contest the
election; that list was finalized on July 28th (reftel),
prior to the legal deadline of 30 days before the campaign.
Both opposition parties and the CNE appear to have been
caught by yet another inconsistency within the electoral law.


6. (SBU) The lack of financing has certainly hurt opposition

LUANDA 00000616 002 OF 002


parties. PLD President Analia Pereira said opposition
parties have to use private multimedia houses to produce
their TV and radio spots; costs run at ten to thirteen
thousand USD to produce a five-minute spot on television, and
three to six thousand USD per ten-minute radio spot on radio.
Angola also has only limited printing capacity for
brochures, pamphlets, and other written campaign material;
the financing delay has also severely restricted the ability
of small parties to mass-produce information about their
plans and platforms.

Extended School Closure During Electoral Period
-------------- ---


7. (U) The Ministry of Education ordered an extended closure
of all primary and secondary schools in Angola for forty-five
days, from July 28 through to September 10, 2008. Dr. Soma,
Director for Educational Programs in the Ministry, defended
the closure as a means for teachers and adult students to
participate fully in the electoral process and serve as
electoral and polling station agents. In addition, in many
rural areas schools are the only concrete building; many will
be used as voting stations and warehouses for voting
materials in the pre-electoral period.


8. (U) COMMENT: Parents have sharply criticized the extended
closure, noting that the normally-scheduled 10-day break in
early September should more than suffice. They also question
how this will affect students' academic progress, especially
if the same extended closure is implemented for the
Presidential elections currently scheduled for 2009. Dr.
Soma assured parents that the closure will not affect
students' progress in the academic year, but at the same time
promised that the school year will end on time. No plan has
yet been presented on how students will recoup the lost time;
most schools rotate different levels through in the morning
and afternoon and have no electricity, so simply extending
the school day is not viewed as an option.
MOZENA