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FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
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RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
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RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0323
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0473
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0231

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000695 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR
SUBJECT: NDI'S ACTIVITIES AND THINKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS 
AFTER THE ELECTIONS 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) 
 
-------------- 
(C) Key Points 
-------------- 
 
-- NDI reps briefed Ambassador May 30 on their recent two-day 
forum to promote the role of women in the transition to 
democracy, including NDI's plan to organize candidate debates 
and to provide media training to improve electoral coverage. 
 
-- NDI also has helped create a proposal to publicly fund 
political party and coalition campaigns.  Signed by 28 of 
Mauritania's 35 political parties, the proposal, which the 
Ministry of Interior is currently considering, establishes 
requirements each party or coalition must meet to be eligible 
for public funding. 
 
-- NDI reps said that following the March 2007 presidential 
elections they are interested in assisting in democracy 
stabilization efforts such as "civil-military programs to try 
and reduce the distance between these two groups." 
 
------------ 
(C) Comments 
------------ 
 
-- NDI continues to lead the way here in helping political 
parties and civil society prepare for elections.  In fact, 
they are one of the only bodies working with these key groups. 
 
-- Elections here that meet international standards are still 
far from certain, and they will only be the first step 
towards sustainable democracy.  NDI realizes this, and their 
thoughts about future programs, including in the 
civil-military realm, are important. 
 
-- Embassy strongly supports NDI's ideas about combining 
Embassy programs such as TSCTI, with NDI's own programming. 
It is not too early to start thinking about what the USG 
should do after the elections. 
 
End Key Points and Comments. 
 
¶1. (U) On May 30, National Democratic Institute (NDI) North 
African Regional Director Gerard Latulippe and recently 
arrived Resident Director Jacques Veilleux briefed Ambassador 
on the status of NDI's efforts to help Mauritania prepare for 
elections. 
 
----------------- 
NDI'S PROGRAMMING 
----------------- 
 
¶2. (U) NDI sponsored a Women's Forum May 30-31 to promote the 
role of women in the transition to elections.  Ambassador 
gave a speech in classical Arabic during the opening ceremony 
of the event which attracted more than 200 political party 
and civil society representatives.  Following the event, 
participants adopted several resolutions for enhancing 
women's political involvement and established a "National 
Consultation Platform" which will meet regularly to encourage 
further discussion of these issues. 
 
¶3. (C) Following the success of the Women's Forum, NDI has 
worked with forum participants to create an advocacy 
strategy, to ensure that parties' candidate lists for the 
coming elections ensure women's representation.  The 
transitional government has said it will require political 
parties to ensure that at least 20% of their candidates are 
women, but they have not yet created a mechanism for ensuring 
this.  Latulippe said "it is unlikely the government will be 
able to guarantee that 20% of the Parliamentary seats go to 
women...either because they will not set the proper party 
guidelines, or because the parties won't follow them." 
Latulippe added that "this is why we will target political 
parties themselves, to try and guarantee improved 
representation for women." 
 
¶4. (U) In the coming months, NDI will focus on enhancing 
political parties' abilities to mount successful campaigns. 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000695  002 OF 002 
 
 
"We want to organize candidate debates, and have these 
debates broadcast live to the Mauritanian public," Latulippe 
said, adding that "this will educate the public about the 
elections and will encourage parties to develop competing and 
substantive party platforms."  NDI also plans to provide 
election monitoring training to political parties and media 
training to Mauritania's public and private media to 
encourage "objective and comprehensive electoral coverage." 
 
¶5. (U) NDI continues providing political parties material 
assistance and training through their Nouakchott Resource 
Center. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
28 POLITICAL PARTIES SIGN PUBLIC FINANCING PROPOSAL 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. (C) Over the past four months the Ministry of the Interior 
has repeatedly requested public financing proposals from 
political parties, saying that if the parties do not agree on 
a plan, that the government will not provide public funding 
for parties.  Responding to a lack of party coordination and 
a call from the Ministry for assistance, NDI gathered 
together 28 of Mauritania's 35 recognized political parties 
to agree upon a proposal (according to NDI the 7 missing 
parties were either "non-existent or unreachable"). 
Following several days of negotiations, the 28 parties agreed 
on a public financing framework and submitted this to the 
Ministry in mid-May.  The Ministry has not yet responded to 
the proposal. 
 
¶7. (C) The public financing proposal includes money for 
political parties and coalitions, but not for independent 
candidates.  The proposal establishes several requirements 
parties or coalitions must meet in order to receive funding, 
such as candidates running in at least 40% of Mauritania's 
electoral districts, at least five regional offices, and a 
bank account. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Programming after March 07 Elections 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶8. (C) Responding to Ambassador's question about NDI's plans 
in Mauritania following the March 2007 presidential 
elections, Latulippe said "we have already begun looking at 
several options, including programs with the newly elected 
Parliament and civil-military programs to try and reduce the 
distance between these two groups."  Ambassador proposed that 
NDI and the Embassy continue working together, particularly 
on the civil-military front.  "I see several partnership 
opportunities," Ambassador said, adding that "TSCTI is one 
possibility." 
 
------- 
FUNDING 
------- 
 
¶9. (C) Latulippe thanked Ambassador for "all of your work in 
pushing for funding," and said that there current funding 
position was favorable.  Latulippe said NDI was currently 
operating on bridge funding from a National Endowment for 
Democracy (NED) grant, but was expecting an additional 
120,000 dollars from NED, 250,000 dollars from USAID, and 
500,000 dollars from the Middle East Partnership Initiative 
(MEPI).  Latulippe said that once these funds arrived "we 
will be in a very good position to carry out our programming 
goals." 
LeBaron