LOCAL ELECTIONS IN MALI: A QUIET DAY AT THE POLLS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000259 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM ML SUBJECT: LOCAL ELECTIONS IN MALI: A QUIET DAY AT THE POLLS 1.(SBU) Summary: Mali's local elections occurred without incident on Sunday, April 26, as Malians braved sweltering heat to select approximately 11,000 municipal level officials. The U.S. Mission deployed observer teams throughout Bamako and to the interior cities of Segou, Mopti, and Timbuktu. With results not expected for at least another day, moderate to low voter turnout emerged as the main story line for Malian officials and press outlets even though participation rates appeared to mirror those of the 2007 presidential and legislative elections. After casting his own ballot at one of the lightly attended polling stations in Bamako, President Amadou Toumani Toure linked low participation rates to overly complicated voter registration procedures and called for more user friendly, voter accessible procedures in the future. For Embassy observers the more interesting theme was the dedication of the tens of thousands of Malian citizens who volunteered to serve as poll workers and apply, despite poor training and even poorer conditions, Malian electoral laws as fairly and accurately as possible. We will provide a more comprehensive overview of the election results septel. End Summary. -------------- A Sunday Election -------------- 2.(SBU) Malians meandered to polls across the country on Sunday to elect roughly 11,000 local level officials. Unlike presidential elections where Malians vote for individual candidates, local and legislative elections are organized around lists of candidates identified only by a dizzying array of symbols and logos. As a result, only the most informed voters know the names of the individuals attached to the lists for which they are voting. Election winners are selected based on proportionalities received by each list. The system's opacity is further compounded by the back room dealing that occurs after the election, when newly elected local officials decide amongst themselves who will serve as mayor or deputy mayor or representative to Mali's several Regional Assemblies. 3.(SBU) Although most of the monuments, lamp posts, and city streets in Bamako have been plastered with pamphlets advertising the symbols and logos of myriad campaign lists, one could have mistaken election day in Bamako for just another sleepy, incredibly hot Sunday. Apart from the small to moderate sized crowds milling around in the heat outside ;the public schools designated as polling centers, there were no discernible signs of an election in progress. Indeed, many polling places had the unmistakable air of an average school day - albeit with a heavy police presence although even that is not so unusual for some of the larger, more turbulent schools in Bamako - as most of those congregating around polling stations appeared to be just above the eligible voting age. 4.(SBU) Nearly all of those commissioned by political parties as election day poll watchers assigned to individual polling stations seemed to be high school or university age kids. Although some of these poll watchers were actively involved in helping to ensure the transparency of the polling process on behalf of their parties, most had all the enthusiasm of students forced to fulfill the mandatory requirements of a tedious civics class. 5.(SBU) Official poll workers sponsored by the Independent National Elections Commission appeared somewhat better trained and more knowledgeable, and the efficiency of individual polling stations depended on large part on the organization and leadership skills of the "president" of each individual polling station. Although our observer teams encountered sporadic irregularities - ranging from failures to properly check voter identification or fully reconcile the number of voters with actual ballots cast - these irregularities stemmed not from any concerted attempt to perpetrate fraud but rather inadvertent errors stemming from training deficiencies or the conspicuous absence of basic essentials such as electricity, light, and chalk for tallying results on classroom blackboards. -------------- Voter Turnout -------------- 6.(SBU) Based on the informal tallies of our observer teams, turnout in Bamako ranged from a low of 15 percent in some areas to a high of 35 percent in others. Turnout appeared to be higher, perhaps reaching 40 percent or more, in parts of the interior. Our observer team in Segou reported some polling places with more than 50 percent BAMAKO 00000259 002 OF 002 participation rates. Fearing an embarrassingly low turnout, President Toure declared April 22, the Wednesday before election day, a national civic holiday to afford citizens the chance to collect their voter cards from local mayors' offices. Despite this holiday and public attempts to encourage voter participation, polling places in Bamako had stacks and stacks of undistributed voter cards on election day. -------------- Comment: Democracy a la Malienne -------------- 7.(SBU) Despite much hand wringing about poor participation rates, highly unscentific guesstimates by our observer teams sugget that turnout rates for Sunday's local elections mirrored those of the 2007 presidential and legisltive contests. According to Malian government satistics, 36 percent of registered voters particpated in the 2007 presidential elections and 31 percent in the 2007 legislative elections. 8.(SBU) Our observer teams noted some minor irregularities. These included failures to properly check voter identification resulting in the occasional underage voter, individuals milling around polling places with a few too many voter cards in their possession, and attempts to take advantage of a loop hole in the electoral law allowing for individuals without ID to vote with the assistance of two - oftentimes professional - witnesses. Many of these incidents were not the products of systematic or, to borrow from Monday headlines in a number of Malian newspapers, "massive" fraud but rather the result of training and material deficiencies. 9.(SBU) In many instances our observers in Bamako and elsewhere watched as poll workers struggled to help would-be voters find their names among lists of thousands of extremely similar, and in many cases, identical names. Even in Bamako, few of the public schools that doubled as polling places had electric lighting. Although each individual polling station received as standard issue a kerosene lantern as part of its official election administration kit, kerosene was not included. As night fell and ballot boxes were opened, poll workers, political party delegations and impartial observers battled the darkness with privately bought candles or cell phone flashlights. Given the minimal amount, if any, of compensation poll workers stand to receive, their dedication and good-faith efforts under less than optimal circumstances suggests that the foundation of Malian democracy is much stronger than Sunday's participation rates imply. MILOVANOVIC