DISPUTE OVER PROVISIONAL ELECTORAL LIST RESOLVED

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000666


E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SOCI IV
SUBJECT: DISPUTE OVER PROVISIONAL ELECTORAL LIST RESOLVED

REF: A) ABIDJAN 664 B) ABIDJAN 640

Classified By: Ambassador Wanda Nesbitt for Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Summary: The three main political parties (the FPI,
RDR, and PDCI) have apparently resolved their dispute,
allowing publication of the provisional electoral list to
move forward. An agreement to downplay nationality questions
and deal "administratively" with the one million registrants
who remain unverified, and a desire to hold elections sooner
rather than later were the key factors that helped the
parties overcome their impasse. The preliminary list should
be published by week's end. End Summary


2. (C) Ambassador learned from November 9 conversations with
several of the key players that all of the main political
parties have now agreed to publication of a provisional list
in two parts. The first part will consist of the 5.3 million
voters verified by the independent electoral commission
(CEI); the second part will contain the names of just over
one million who require further verification. SRSG Choi
believes that the RDR and PDCI backed away from their
insistence on a single, integrated list once it became clear
that arriving at a single list would delay the election until
next fall. Most critical, however, is a commitment made by
the CEI (which CEI President Mambe confirmed) not to infer in
any way that the one million are not Ivorian. Mambe told
Ambassador that the CEI has agreed to treat these cases as
ones in which an error may have been made. Individuals who
choose may supply additional information to help the CEI
clarify their status. Mambe said he would give a press
conference this week to explain to the public how the one
million will be handled. RDR leader Amadou Gon Coulibaly told
Ambassador that the key difference from their perspective is
that no one from among the one million will be required to
present additional proof of citizenship - it will be a
voluntary process. This obviously leaves the door open for
those who do not come forward now to do so at a later date.


3. (C) Koffi Koffi Paul, who coordinates election
preparations for the Prime Minister, provided additional
insight saying that some political party leaders had not
fully appreciated the logistics of working from a single
list. Koffi Paul said that they accepted the PM's
recommendation to go with a bifurcated list once they
understood that this would actually speed up the process by
making it easier for CEI committees in the field to focus on
unresolved cases. He noted that Soro, currently on a trip to
Egypt, would stop in Ouagadougou on his way back. He will
presumably get the Facilitator's concurrence.


4. (C) Comment: The Ivorians have a found a practical and
largely positive solution to the impasse over the electoral
list. Some of the one million will undoubtedly be added to
the final list. Leaving the door open for the remainder to
have their nationality validated seems sensible although it
promises another fight over nationality sometime in the
future. As noted in ref B, one of the reasons behind the
delay in publication was the need to produce a list
containing more names than the 2000 electoral list. We
suspect that once the CEI list exceeded 5 million, pressure
to publish the list became intense. Advisors to Gbagbo have
been actively involved in pushing for a rapid solution,
suggesting that the president's interest in having elections
as soon as possible is genuine. If the provisional list is
indeed published this week, Cote d'Ivoire will have taken
another major step forward towards resolving its 7 year old
crisis.


NESBITT