Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAMAKO128
2009-03-03 16:50:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

WITH EYE ON 2012, SECOND LARGEST POLITICAL PARTY

Tags:  PGOV KDEM ML 
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VZCZCXRO8213
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0128/01 0621650
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031650Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0080
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000128 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ML
SUBJECT: WITH EYE ON 2012, SECOND LARGEST POLITICAL PARTY
IN MALI PREPARES FOR APRIL LOCAL ELECTIONS

REF: A. BAMAKO 00070

B. BAMAKO 00073

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000128

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ML
SUBJECT: WITH EYE ON 2012, SECOND LARGEST POLITICAL PARTY
IN MALI PREPARES FOR APRIL LOCAL ELECTIONS

REF: A. BAMAKO 00070

B. BAMAKO 00073

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1.(C) Summary: In a meeting with the Embassy on February 26,
the president of Mali's second largest political party and
National Assembly vice-president Younoussi Toure raised no
significant concerns regarding the timing of upcoming local
elections scheduled for April 26. Questions about the
accuracy of Mali's electoral lists have led several
opposition parties to demand an electoral postponement
(Reftels). For Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD)
president Toure, postponing the elections would be more
"dangerous" for Malian democracy than moving ahead as
planned. While Toure described the timing of elections as a
third rail best left untouched, he did recommend revisiting
regulations regarding registration of political parties,
noting that there were now something like 116 political
parties in Mali. Toure also said the URD aimed to elect more
local officials on April 26 than any other party in Mali.
Toure's comments indicated that the rivalry between the URD
and Mali's largest political party, the Alliance for
Democracy in Mali, is back on. This rivalry was put on hold
in 2007 when ADEMA and the URD jointly endorsed President
Amadou Toumani Toure's (ATT) re-election bid. With ATT's
second and final presidential term now nearly halfway
complete, the URD is clearly looking to the April local
elections as the first step toward sending its political
leader - president of the Commission of the West African
Monetary Union Soumaila Cisse - to the presidency in 2012.
End Summary.

--------------
The Elections Must Go On
--------------

2.(SBU) On February 26 the president of the URD, Younoussi
Toure, dismissed complaints articulated by opposition leaders
regarding the need to postpone April 26 local elections due
to problems with Mali's electoral lists. The URD is Mali's
second largest political party behind only the Alliance for
Democracy in Mali (ADEMA) party in size and elected office
holders. The URD has 29 seats in the Malian National
Assembly. During the 2007 presidential elections the URD
joined with ADEMA to endorse President Amadou Toumani Toure

(ATT) for re-election. Together ADEMA and URD formed the
backbone of ATT's 2007 political coalition, known as the
Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP). Although the glue
holding the ADP together has weakened somewhat since 2007,
the URD remains highly supportive of ATT. URD President
Younoussi Toure - no relation to ATT - and other URD officers
indicated that this support is based largely on the URD's
belief that its political leader, current president of the
Commission of the West African Monetary Union Soumaila Cisse,
will be ATT's chosen successor in 2012.

3.(SBU) URD president Younoussi Toure served as Prime
Minister during the 1990s under former President Alpha Oumar
Konare and was elected vice president of the National
Assembly in 2007. During his meeting with the Embassy Toure
rejected opposition arguments that communal elections
scheduled for April 26 should be postponed due to problems
with the electoral voter list. While conceding that the
electoral list had problems, Toure noted that the problems
raised most recently were no different that those raised
prior to Mali's presidential and legislative elections in

2007. Toure said the URD saw no reason to delay the local
elections and argued that postponing regularly scheduled
elections was "dangerous" for Malian democracy. "In a
democracy," said Toure, "elections need to be held on time.
The terms of office holders need to be renewed." Toure said
those calling for a postponement were not acting in good
faith since the electoral lists flaws have been well known
since the presidential and legislative elections of 2007.
Since everyone in Mali knew that local elections would occur
in 2009, Toure said politicians unhappy about the electoral
lists should have spoken up sooner as opposed to waiting for
the Malian government to officially unveil the date of the
2009 contest.

4.(SBU) When asked about URD's hopes for the upcoming
communal elections, Toure said he had just returned from a
trip up country intended to energize the URD party faithful.
According to Toure, the URD is shooting to win more elections
than any other party in April. During the last local
elections in 2004, the URD claimed slightly more than 1600 of
the 11,000 locally elected officials. Mali's largest
political party, ADEMA, has the most number of locally
elected officials. Toure said that the URD is better known
and better organized now, and hoped to translate this into a

BAMAKO 00000128 002 OF 002


better result. "We want to be first," said Toure.

--------------
March Multiparty Madness
--------------

5.(SBU) Like other parties, the URD is facing a serious
budget crunch. Toure said the URD was depending on member
contributions to finance the April local elections campaign.
Toure also complained that Mali's relaxed rules on the
creation of political parties was adversely impacting the URD
by funneling public financing funds away from legitimate
parties like the URD and toward numerous non-existent
micro-parties. On February 5 the Malian government announced
the award of public financing totaling FCFA 1 billion
(approx. USD 2 million) to be divided between 30 political
parties for use during the April local election campaign. A
total of 62 parties applied for funding. Parties receiving
funds were selected based on audits of internal financial
records conducted by the Accounting Section of the Malian
Supreme Court. Funds were divided using a formula that
weighed levels of party participation in previous elections
together with the numbers of National Assembly Deputies,
municipal councilors, and women officials elected to office
by each qualified party. The URD will receive nearly FCFA
204 million (approx. USD 407,000) in public funds, second
only to ADEMA which was awarded FCFA 357 million (USD
712,000).

6.(SBU) Indicating that he was speaking on his own behalf
and not that of the URD, Toure said he believed there were
too many parties in Mali. At last count there were 116
political parties in Mali, of which less than 10 are national
in character. "This is too many political parties for 12
million people," said Toure. "We can't have 116 different
development platforms." Toure attributed the multiplication
of political parties to the fervor that accompanied Mali's
democratic transition in 1991-1992. Toure said Malian
leaders during the transition overcompensated for several
decades of dictatorship by drafting rules enabling any
individual or any political grouping to register as a
political party. Toure said administrative reform of public
campaign financing laws provided the best way to bring the
number of parties under control. He recommended that only
parties with representation in parliament, or only parties
that have secured a certain percentage of the vote during
previous elections, should be eligible for public financing.

--------------
Comment: An Eye to 2012
--------------

7.(C) As usual, Younoussi Toure presented a thoughtful and
generally fair view of the challenges facing Malian
democracy. His concerns regarding the dangers of postponing
local elections are valid ones, especially since, as Toure
noted, the evident flaws with Mali's electoral rolls have
been known for some time and there is little Malian officials
can do in the near term to rectify them. Toure's
observations on the multiplicity of political parties were
also interesting. Mali has previously adopted administrative
measures designed to dampen the cacophony of political
parties and fantasy political candidates. After 24
candidates ran for the presidency in 2002, Mali doubled the
candidate registration fee for the 2007 presidential contest,
thereby reducing the number of presidential candidates to
eight.

8.(C) The URD may find itself hard pressed to outpace ADEMA
for top performer in the upcoming local elections. The
URD-ADEMA race for the most number of local officials could
be an interesting one to watch, however, for two reasons: (1)
on paper the URD and ADEMA remain allies within the ADP
coalition; and (2) the URD and ADEMA are the two parties in
Mali best positioned for the 2012 presidential election.
ADEMA trumps the URD in terms of the number of elected
officials in office, national membership and name
recognition. However, the URD's presumed presidential
candidate, Soumaila Cisse, is politically much more
formidable than ADEMA's current front runner, National
Assembly President Diouncounda Traore.
MILOVANOVIC