STATE OF THE ELECTIONS: GOH FINALLY FUNDS THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 000468 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2018 TAGS: PGOV KDEM HO SUBJECT: STATE OF THE ELECTIONS: GOH FINALLY FUNDS THE RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTIONS, BUT FAIR ELECTIONS ARE STILL TENUOUS REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 336 ¶B. TEGUCIGALPA 438 ¶C. TEGUCIGALPA 458 Classified By: Ambassador Charles Ford, Reasons 1.4 (b & d) ¶1. (C) Summary. After months of dragging its feet, the Executive branch finally agreed on May 14 to release the funding of the National Register of Persons (RNP),that issues national identity documents, and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE),that runs the elections and counts the votes. The two institutions were at a virtual crisis point that could have endangered the elections by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters. After pressure by both the political parties and the major donor countries, Minister of Finance Rebecca Santos capitulated, and agreed to release the funds as long as the Ministry of Finance (MOF) directly controlled the expenditures of each institution. With the release of the funds, a free and fair election is possible, but there is no margin of error in timely production of the ID cards. President Zelaya cast doubt on the country's ability to hold free and fair elections, and Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez questioned whether the President might postpone elections. End summary. ¶2. (C) For months, the RNP, which issues national identity documents, and the TSE, which runs the elections and monitors the results, have been publicly demanding that the MOF release their funding that was allocated to them by the Congress. It was not until May 14 that Minister of Finance Rebecca Santos finally agreed to release the funds, with the caveat that all expenditures would be paid directly by the MOF. The RNP and TSE are both independent institutions that have the authority to make purchases, and should not be subjected to this type of scrutiny or control, but leaders of both institutions told us that they were at their wits end, and accepted the terms because they so desperately needed the funding. RNP directors told us that the added layer of bureaucracy may be difficult to manage. For example the RNP needs to pay overtime to the employees to catch-up on the back-log, but in order to receive the payments, under this new system employees from all over the country would need to come to Tegucigalpa to get their checks. The RNP Directors are working on a compromise solution. General State of the Elections -------------- ¶3. (U) Primary elections in Honduras will be held on November 16, 2008 and general elections in November 2009. Approximately 4.5 million citizens are expected to vote. Recently the Congress passed electoral reforms whereby the vote count will be carried out at the municipal level for the first time. This will require setting up 13,000 polling stations at 310 different locations and training 65,000 poll workers. These new requirements will be carried out by the TSE. It will require approximately 300 million lempiras (USD 15.8 million) to cover expenses, including poll worker training, election kits, transportation of elections materials, updating electoral maps, creating voter lists and ballots, transmitting results, etc. ID Needs -------------- ¶4. (U) According to Luis Suazo, RNP Technical Director, 1.2 million Hondurans need to be documented in order to participate in the elections. Each year, approximately 150,000 Hondurans turn age 18 and become eligible to vote. Currently, there is a backlog of 600,000 Hondurans who have turned 18 but do not have an ID. Of this backlog, approximately 167,000 have applied for their cards. Another 200,000 Hondurans who have lost their IDs have requested replacements. Since April, the RNP has suspended issuance of IDs because of the breakdown of the printing equipment (the maintenance contract expired and there are no funds to re-start it) and the lack of necessary materials. Unfortunately, procurement of materials is slow -- it takes TEGUCIGALP 00000468 002 OF 003 120 days form the date of an order to receive the items -- and the RNP has not placed an order for several months. Once citizens have their IDs, they can be added to the voters' lists. All applicants who have submitted applications by August 3 will be added to the voter list, even if they have not yet received their physical cards. Budget -------------- ¶5. (C) For 2008, the RNP was allocated a budget of 210 million lempiras for normal operations. This allocation was less than the 2007 budget for a non-election year and 140 million lempiras less than the request. The 2008 base budget for the TSE for 2008 is approximately 57 million lempiras. The TSE and RNP together requested an additional 400 million lempiras (approximately USD 21 million) to conduct the primary elections. While the funds were budgeted by the Congress, Santos said the Congress did not identify a funding source and therefore determined the additional 400 million lempiras must come from extraordinary or surplus tax collections, meaning that no one can be assured this amount will be available. For these reasons, Santos said she could not release any of the funds above rent and salaries to the two institutions. (Note: Zelaya and Santos alleged privately that the RNP in particular is dysfunctional, politicized, not administratively sound, and therefore not worthy of full funding. Zelaya also told us that he saw Congress' funding of these institutions, without identifying funding mechanisms, as a type of blackmail. If the funding could not be found, Zelaya looked bad, but the Congress looked good for having made the allocation, even if it was unfunded. End note.) ¶6. (C) Both National and Liberal Party leaders told us they mounted an extensive campaign to force Zelaya and Santos to capitulate and fund the RNP and TSE. The Ambassador discussed this issue at a private breakfast with Santos on May 12. On May 14 the Consul General received word from Suazo that he had reached an agreement with Santos. During a meeting between Zelaya and the G-16 Ambassadors later that day, the Ambassador congratulated Zelaya on this decision, but the President seemed to be caught off guard. Zelaya seemed unaware of the agreement and appeared stunned. In response to this news, the President's only response was that he knew from experience the TSE could be manipulated, and even with full funding, he doubted the TSE could run a free and fair election. Cardinal Rodriguez States Concern -------------- ¶7. (C) In a May 13 meeting requested by Cardinal Rodriguez, the most credible leader in Honduras, the Cardinal informed the Ambassador that he believes the president could attempt a self-coup sometime prior to the end of this term, which ends approximately two years from now. The Cardinal acknowledged having heard rumors of Zelaya's intention to remain in power, but had only recently come to believe that the president might postpone the elections under an emergency decree. (Note: We have also heard this rumor from other unconfirmed sources. End Note.) Zelaya's assertion that the RNP will not be able to run a free and fair election adds to our concerns that he might indeed try to extend his time in office. Donor Funding -------------- ¶8. (U) To help overcome the GOH funding problems, it approached the international donors to request assistance. The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) allocated USD 2 million for institutional strengthening of both institutions. SIDA funds are being implemented through the Organization of American States. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) set forth an elections support program worth USD 3.3 million of which they have only USD 300,000 currently available. UNDP is requesting other donors to provide the other USD 3 million. The Inter-American TEGUCIGALP 00000468 003 OF 003 Development Bank had planned for financial and technical assistance to the RNP but it, in conjunction with the MOF, decided to suspend these plans in part because of the funding issue. The USG is planning to provide USD 1.5 million, of which USD 500K will be used for the primaries and USD 1 million for the general election. These funds will be used for a national election observer program, voter education and poll worker training. Conclusion -- We Think We Can Do It -------------- ¶8. (C) Now that the funding has begun to be released, Suazo told us the RNP will submit its next order for laminate and card stock (through the MOF) on May 19. It will re-contract with the maintenance company to get the card machine working, and once the stock is received, they expect to be able to produce between 18,000 and 24,000 cards per day. The bottleneck now, he says, is entering the data from the hand-written applications. In order to comply with the vast demand, the RNP has developed a complex system of overtime that will tax their staff and resources. In spite of all these problems, Suazo believes that, barring any surprises, the RNP will be able to issue IDs to all eligible voters in time for the elections. Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) Despite Suazo's optimism, even Zelaya has expressed his worry. This expression, however, comes without his taking any of the blame for the current crisis situation. As expressed in refs a and b, Zelaya has been attacking institutions both directly (in public statements) and indirectly (by withholding funding),in what we believe is an attempt to wreak havoc and possibly break the constitutional order. By withholding funding for the RNP and TSE, he has already cast doubt over the legitimacy of the elections to come in November 2008 and 2009. In addition, Zelaya has refused to sign into law the bill passed by Congress making the RNP and TSE "National Security Organs" of the state, which would make their workers' unions illegal. Liberal Party President Patricia Rodas told us that Zelaya will not sign the law because he is pro-union, but the rest of the political class agrees that unions in these institutions could be very dangerous and be manipulated, especially on the eve of an election. Cardinal Rodriguez and other sources have even told us that they have heard rumblings of a planned self-coup that would keep Zelaya in power beyond his term in office. With the ending of the strike in the Public Ministry and the success of the march for peace (ref c),the institutions have thus far withstood the storm. They are weakened, but if the Public Ministry does an adequate job reviewing the disputed cases, and if some heads roll for malfeasance, the institutions might just come out of this mess stronger. End comment. Ford