ENSURING CREDIBLE ELECTIONS: MEDIA AND DEBATES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001682 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PREL AF SUBJECT: ENSURING CREDIBLE ELECTIONS: MEDIA AND DEBATES REF: SECSTATE 62422 ¶1. This is the fifth in a series of cables updating and providing additional details on Embassy plans and efforts for the Afghan presidential and provincial council elections, per the request in ref A. This cable addresses the issues of media engagements with and airtime for candidates. -------------- EMC SPONSORED DEBATES & ROUNDTABLES -------------- ¶2. The Electoral Media Commission (EMC),through UNDP ELECT, will sponsor media engagement for candidates, media training and media monitoring. The EMC will use part of those funds for its sponsored advertising program (SAP) - scheduled to start at the end of June - to sponsor 16 presidential candidate roundtables during the campaign season. The primary purpose of the roundtables is to provide a certain minimum media presence for all candidates, enabling them to introduce their political platforms to the electorate. The EMC will sponsor eight TV roundtables, with about five candidates each, to be rebroadcast on five TV stations in Dari and Pashtu and eight radio roundtables to be rebroadcast on 10 radio stations in Dari and Pashtu. UNDP New York provided final approval of the funding on June 27. The EMC's plan to provide 16 radio and TV roundtables sets a busy schedule for the remaining 45 days of the campaign period, particularly when the rebroadcasting schedule is taken into consideration. ¶3. The EMC, together with the service provider (SP) - tentatively identified as Radio Arman (TOLO) - will determine the radio roundtable schedule and the number and order in which candidates will participate. The EMC and the SP will also have responsibility to identify an appropriate moderator(s) for each roundtable. The moderator(s) will introduce the presidential candidates, moderate the discussion and ask questions developed in advance by the moderator and the IEC. Each radio roundtable will run approximately 40 minutes and will focus on specific topics that the service provider will develop in close cooperation with the EMC. The possibility of including a live, studio audience and impromptu questions remains under discussion by the EMC. The SP will record the roundtables live, and air them, unedited, in the order in which they are filmed. The EMC and the service provider are tentatively planning to broadcast the roundtables during the 8:00 AM time-slot, which allows for a broad audience without competing with entertainment programming. ¶4. The EMC will schedule the 40-minute TV candidate roundtables, to commence in early-July. The EMC and the SP - tentatively identified as TOLO TV - will determine the number of candidates that will participate in each roundtable in order for candidates to receive an equal amount of time to address the electorate. The EMC and the SP have not yet determined the organizational details of the roundtables, but are considering a lottery to set the calendar and participants. The moderator will ensure candidates receive equal allocation of airtime. The SP and the EMC will identify moderator(s) who will perform the same function as in the radio roundtables. The EMC and the service provider are still considering incorporating an audience or public participation. Because the program only received funding yesterday, the final schedule is not expected until July. -------------- State Airtime & Private Media Debates -------------- ¶5. RTA, the state-run media organization, is producing and has begun broadcasting a 20-minute interview of each presidential candidate, with the intent of providing candidates with an opportunity to advertise their platforms. The production is run by RTA; candidates have told the Embassy that they perceive that the production process and results to be a fair product. The interviews started airing on June 19 and are broadcast during the regular news day. Although offered to all candidates, Ashraf Ghani has declined to participate. ¶6. Private media organizations are also scheduling debates and roundtables without receiving funding from the candidates or the EMC. On June 19, Ariana TV hosted a debate for five candidates: Zia-ul-Haq Hafizi, Shanawaz Tanai, Besmellah Shir, Bashir Behzan and Ramazan Bashardost. We will report on the outcome septel. TOLO TV also plans to host three debates with candidates it will select. The first debate, to be held in early July, is reported to include President Karzai, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani and two other candidates. KABUL 00001682 002 OF 002 ¶7. President Karzai has accepted a public challenge to debate with Dr. Abdullah. Karzai's conditions for acceptance are reported to have included that the debate and moderator should be run by RTA. No date or other information is available. -------------- Troublesome Requests -------------- ¶8. On June 21, The EMC's UNDP advisor, John Matisson - a member of the 2005 EMC - requested additional funds from the U.S. to hold extra roundtables on both TV and radio. On June 25, he reiterated the request, noting that the EMC intends to identify the top five or six candidates out of the current field of 41 through a one question poll. The proposed single-question poll would use a sample of only 1400 participants with no specification of participants from certain provinces. The EMC would have the poll results by mid-to-late July and would use the information to organize additional roundtables - beyond those described above - for the top candidates. Matisson requested U.S. funding for the poll and intends to engage private media to request donated airtime. ¶9. The EMC proposal for additional debates with only "top" candidates, fails under analysis. The Embassy will not provide funds for this project. There is considerable risk in using US funding to pick "top" candidates, an initiative that could undermine the USG policy of impartiality. The use of a single question poll makes that proposal more tenuous, particularly with the IEC in the lead. The poll organizer could possibly shape the winning candidates through poll composition and sample selection, depending on the sample selected or question composition. The probable result of Karzai as the top candidate could reinforce public perception that the IEC is a biased organization or that foreign governments are meddling in the Afghan electoral process. ¶10. Even if the poll selected the true top-five candidates, the IEC lacks a mechanism to force President Karzai to participate in additional debates. As a powerful and "favored" incumbent, it is unlikely that Karzai will appear in more than two-three debates total. Karzai is already committed to a substantive debate on TOLO TV and may be drawn into an additional one based on the initial debate's outcome. If he performs well in the TOLO debate, he has less incentive to participate in further debates. Karzai spokesmen have already charged the EMC with bias against the President because of its criticism of his use of state-radio, making any concurrence to IEC requests unlikely. -------------- The Way Forward On Additional Funding -------------- ¶11. The Embassy is preparing to provide USD 2 million of additional funding to the EMC to support an enhanced media activity schedule. USAID will direct the funds through IFES, which will assist the EMC with administration. USAID will earmark the funding for use to support additional roundtable and broader media access for all candidates. ¶12. Although this funding was originally conceived to support roundtables, we will recommend that it is managed by UNDP for individual campaign announcements equally divided among all candidates. The radio and TV roundtables and rebroadcasts are already saturating the Afghan media and the audience. Prospect of the IEC forcing a grand match between key candidates is unlikely. Further, the broad list of candidates, many of whom are likely to endorse a more prominent candidate later in the campaign, is more consistent with Afghan politics. Each will energize a portion of the electorate that may not show if the candidate roster is artificially narrowed - particularly with perceived western influence. EIKENBERRY