FIJI ELECTION PREPARATION: DONOR COUNTRIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000086

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2018
TAGS: EAID FJ PGOV PREL
SUBJECT: FIJI ELECTION PREPARATION: DONOR COUNTRIES
QUESTION GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT


Classified By: Amb. Larry Dinger. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Just twelve months away from the crucial
election to return Fiji to civilian rule, there are
indications that the interim government (IG) may be dragging
its feet in preparations for the polls. An unexpected
assertion of authority by the Electoral Commission into the
detailed workings of the committee created to coordinate
government-donor cooperation has raised worries in the donor
community about how committed government is to the election
timeline. At the same time. the seemingly interminable
process of selecting a supervisor of elections is finally
moved to the stage of interviewing the short list candidates,
with the prospect of a winner being named by late March. End
summary.

The Electoral Commission Stakes Asserts its Prorogative
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2. (C) The February 27 meeting of Fiji's recently created
Election Donors Coordination Committee (EDCC) got off to an
ill-fated start, feeding donor perceptions that the IG, if
not actively seeking to hinder coordination on election
preparations, is in no hurry to proceed. Minutes into an
explanation by the New Zealand representative on a plan to
dispatch two New Zealand election experts to Fiji to provide
requested technical assistance, Deputy Supervisor of
Elections Soro Toutou interrupted to inform the group that
the chairman of Fiji's Electoral Commission, MK Sahu Khan,
had declared that the proffered help would have to await
further deliberations by the Electoral Commission itself.
Toutou's reading of Khan's statement left little doubt that
the Commission was asserting its claim to be the final
authority over Fiji's electoral process. He said the
Commission chairman would convene a March 6 inter-agency
meeting to determine what sort of expertise and technology
Fiji needs to prepare for and carry out its 2009 elections.


3. (C) Representatives from New Zealand and Australia
politely reminded Toutou and the EDCC chair, Justice Ministry
Permanent Secretary Pio Tikoduadua -- a military secondee --
that the New Zealand offer was in direct response to
decisions taken at the February 11 meeting of the EDCC. New
Zealand Deputy High Commissioner Todd Cleaver explained that
the two NZ experts, both of whom have significant experience
with Fiji's May 2006 elections, are ideally suited to advise
Fiji on its needs in preparation for the planned 2009 poll,
especially those related to information technology. They
can, he said, make certain that Fiji gets the "right fit" in
terms of the technical assistance the donors would provide.

Donors Call for Clarity
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4. (C) An exasperated James Sweeting of AusAID told
Tikoduadua that, if the electoral commissioner plans to
second guess the decisions of the EDCC and seeks to make
decisions on technical assistance, he must begin attending
the EDCC meetings. Khan and the commission had previously
decided to remain apart from the EDCC. Kirk Yates of NZAID
said the two experts are highly sought after international
experts and having to wait on the commission's March 6
deliberation would likely mean an unavoidable further delay
in the experts being able to come to Fiji to consult. The
European Union representative said that without future
participation by the commission, the EDCC would constantly be
revisiting issues it thought had already been decided.
Tikoduadua told the nonplused donor representatives that he
would meet with Commissioner Khan to explain their views but
could do nothing more than hope that Khan might change his
mind.

Momentum Lost
--------------


5. (C) Having had a key agenda item undercut by the Electoral
Commissioner's decision, the EDCC failed to regain its
momentum. In a surprisingly short but telling report,
Tikoduadua informed the donors that the government has
succeeded in finding two vehicles donated by New Zealand for
the 2006 polls but that they have been re-assigned to other
use and would not be returned to the electoral office. The
EU representative asked if the IG has decided whether
electoral rolls will be entirely redone, at a projected cost
of 7.6 million Fiji dollars (c. USD 5 m.) and an undetermined
amount of time, or only the rolls of the relatively few
districts identified as problematic during the 2006
elections. Deputy Elections Supervisor Toutou said this key

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question would also be discussed at the Electoral
Commission's March 6 meeting.


6. (C) The donor representatives took some comfort in word
that the oft-postponed interviews to select a supervisor of
elections would begin March 4th. Australian DCM Andrew
Martin told the group that the short list of candidates now
consists of three New Zealanders and two Australians, down
from the eight candidates recently announced. NZAID's Yates
said his organization would fund the video conference
interviews for the NZ candidates, while Australia would pay
for the interviews with the two Australians. EDCC Chair
Tikoduadua said this was the first he had heard that a South
African candidate and two others had pulled out of the
running. The winner is now expected to be selected before
the end of March. The oft-delayed decision was to have been
made by the end of February.


7. (C) Yates raised the need for government to begin
providing the electoral boundaries commission with the census
data it needs to redraw Fiji's electoral constituencies.
Tikoduadua was unable to say what government agency has the
lead to pull together the necessary mapping or other
technical experts to support the Constitutional Boundaries
Commission. Yates said there is an urgent need for the
boundaries commission to spell out its requirements so that
donors can respond. He added that New Zealand is prepared to
offer particular expertise in the area of constituency
mapping. Tikoduadua recommended that the head of the
boundaries commission be invited to attend future EDCC
meetings, a proposal that was well received.


8. (C) EU representative Michael Graf reminded the government
representatives that, if Fiji desires to have EU election
observers for the 2009 polls, Brussels needs to have a formal
request by August at the latest. He noted a remark from
Yates that Fiji government officials had criticized EU
observers to the 2006 elections for having not come earlier.
Graf said the EU observers had come weeks before the
elections and remained weeks afterwards, and the leader of
the observer team had returned six months after the elections
to present the final report to the Fiji government.

Talk of Confrontation
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9. (C) In discussions following the EDCC meeting, Australian
and New Zealand representatives expressed their extreme
frustration with the unexpected intervention by the head of
the Electoral Commission, since it in effect negated the
decision taken at the EDCC meeting on February 11 to seek
help of NZ experts. More generally, they said, the pace of
the EDCC's workings is already reflecting either a hidden
agenda of slowing down the process or, at the very least, an
indifference to whether the election timeline is adhered to
or not. In light of the increasingly short time before the
proposed election date of the first quarter of 2009, Yates
said, there is simply no time left to waste. There was
agreement among Yates, Sweeting and ourselves that if the
pace of future meetings does not pick up significantly and if
the IG does not cease placing obstacles in the committee's
way, donors ought to confront Tikoduadua and demand a greater
effort to push forward on preparations or risk losing donor
support.

Comment
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10. (C) Whether intentional or not, the "Pacific" pace of the
EDCC is a worry. The election is now just a year away and
numerous pieces of the electoral machinery, many of them
dependent on donor funding and technical assistance, remain
to be put into place. The prospect of the Electoral
Commission now asserting its influence in a way that will
slow the process still further is not promising, particularly
when the commission has taken the decision to remain aloof
from the work with the donor community. Neither Australia
nor New Zealand appear to be in a hurry to play the role of
the bad cop with the interim government, nor does either want
to see the process languish while the clock runs down. A
further concern is the likely role that the head of the
Electoral Commission may play in his dealings with an expat
Supervisor of Elections, whose job it is to organize and
carry out the polls. Without the Electorial Commission's
cooperation, the work of the Supervisor and the boundaries
commission will be hindered and more time will be lost. If
Tikoduadua cannot show that the IG is serious and move
forward rapidly in its dealings with the donors, the donor

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community will have to up the pressure on the IG to live up
to its committments.
DINGER