This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 002449 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KCOR PREL EC
SUBJECT: PREPARING FOR ECUADORIAN ELECTIONS OCTOBER 
17--REQUEST FOR USG SUPPORT FOR OAS MISSION 
 
REF: A. QUITO 2251 
     ¶B. QUITO 2076 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Ecuador's upcoming local elections are an 
indirect test of the Gutierrez Administration's strength (it 
is widely expected to fail that test) and, more importantly, 
an opportunity for Ecuadorian voters to renew their faith in 
the democratic process.  President Gutierrez' Patriotic 
Society Party (PSP) is expected to suffer a humiliating 
defeat to opposition incumbents in key races.  Although there 
are few hints or recent history of fraud in local elections, 
a political crisis is developing over the President,s 
flirtation with the opposition Ecuadorian Roldosista Party 
(PRE) of disgraced ex-President Abdala Bucaram.  A clean 
election likely will increase the longstanding disparity 
between public confidence in local versus national political 
leaders, as re-elected incumbents enjoy greater public trust 
than the President.  It could also help renew confidence in 
democracy, if only at the local level.  Given the importance 
to political stability of clean elections, Embassy recommends 
USG support for an OAS monitoring effort, which we hope to 
join on election day. 
 
What is at Stake? 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) AID democratic values surveys consistently show 
voter confidence in politicians and democratic institutions 
to be higher at the local than national level.  Mayors of 
larger cities currently enjoy high approval ratings as a 
result of concerted emphasis on infrastructure improvements. 
Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo recently told PolOffs that major 
city mayors from a variety of opposition parties have been 
meeting to share lessons learned, and comprise a new 
municipal movement of competent, proven leaders.  With 
confidence in the Gutierrez government nearing single digits, 
the opportunity to re-elect popular opposition mayors and 
provincial prefects on October 17 could help reinforce public 
confidence in electoral politics, indirectly benefiting the 
embattled national government.  However, to have this effect, 
the elections must be generally perceived as clean and 
well-run. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) President Gutierrez' PSP has been marginalized at 
the national level since the departure of its broad-based 
coalition; it now has only five of 100 Congressional deputies 
and no mayors.  The PSP will lose its national registry if it 
fails to win more than 5% of the national vote for the second 
straight time, as expected.  (Note:  on its own, the party 
failed to win more than 5% of the vote in 2002, despite 
Gutierrez victory of the presidency with the support of 
several allied parties.  The PSP currently holds no 
mayorships, since the party was formed after the last 
municipal elections in 2000.)  Nevertheless, President 
Gutierrez has been actively visiting (and distributing public 
largesse in) areas in the Amazon region and selectively in 
some Sierra districts where the PSP hopes to gain in these 
elections. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The key races among the 219 municipal and 22 
prefectural posts (U.S.-governor-equivilents) up for election 
on October 17 are for the Guayaquil and Quito mayorships and 
the prefect races in Guayas and Pichincha provinces.  In both 
cases, the mayoral incumbents (Jaime Nebot of the Social 
Christian Party (PSC) and Moncayo for the Democratic Left 
Party (ID), respectively) are expected to win handily (Nebot 
has the highest popularity ratings of any politician in the 
country); their prefectural counterparts are also favored to 
win by lesser margins over non-incumbent challengers.  There 
is another reason to pay special attention to the race in 
Guayas province: there were unsubstantiated allegations of 
fraud by challengers in the 2000 election of Nebot and PSC 
Guayas prefect Nicolas Lapentti.  The Manta mayor race is 
also of interest for its potential impact on the Manta FOB. 
 
Election Preparations Underway 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) OAS Representative Dr. Cesar Ocampo told PolCouns on 
August 24 that the GoE ratified a formal request from the 
Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) requesting the OAS to send 
an observation mission for the municipal elections.  Although 
the OAS has not made a decision, Ocampo believed that it 
would be positive and that the bulk of the mission would be 
comprised of accredited staff and diplomat volunteers in 
Ecuador.  He characterized Ecuadorian electoral authorities 
as "politicized but competent" and said expectations of 
electoral fraud are low for election day.  Ocampo said he had 
offered his own good offices to help resolve lingering 
controversies over campaign financing and allocation of 
municipal council seats (RefTels), as he had in the past to 
promote indigenous representation. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The elections will be administered by the Supreme 
Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which is comprised of seven members 
representing some of the major political parties in Congress. 
 Seven alternates are appointed on the same basis.  The TSE 
appoints provincial electoral tribunals in each of the 22 
provinces, which in turn appoint municipal level tribunals. 
The political parties are represented at each level.  TSE 
President Nicanor Moscoso, himself the former campaign 
manager of the National Institutional Action Renewal Party 
(PRIAN) confirmed to PolCouns on August 31 that the GoE has 
invited the OAS to observe the upcoming elections.  He 
downplayed concerns about possible fraud in the Guayas 
prefect race, saying the issues raised during the last 
election have been dealt with through subsequent reforms.  He 
said the TSE had contracted a credible Spanish firm to manage 
the vote count, a small sample of which will be tallied 
electronically. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) What concerned the TSE president more was 
resistance on the part of the PSC and the ID parties to 
needed increases in official campaign finance limits.  By 
blocking Congressional action to raise the limits, these two 
parties have maintained hypocritically low limits for 
election expenses ($600,000 for all prefect and municipal 
races, combined, including highs of $44,000 and $40,000 for 
the Guayaquil and Quito mayor races, respectively).  The 
motive for the resistance of these two parties to higher 
spending limits is self-serving, according to Moscoso.  Both 
presume they can effectively block any effort to investigate 
their own spending due to their preponderant weight within 
the TSE's deliberative structure.  Smaller parties do not 
enjoy that assurance and will be vulnerable to future 
investigation for overspending. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Another issue of concern to Moscoso is the system 
to proportionally allocate municipal council seats among 
parties.  In this, he said, the TSE has the power to act 
Congress does not.  Moscoso said he was consulting with the 
parties and intended to announce the system later this month. 
 
 
USG Assistance 
-------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) AID is providing $800,000 in election-related 
support, roughly divided between support to the TSE 
administered through the Center for Electoral Promotion and 
Assistance (CAPEL) and the other half to NGOs for civil 
society oversight of the elections.  The latter includes a 
civic education campaign, electoral reforms, efforts to 
monitor campaign spending, domestic observation of the 
elections and an independent quick count.  Funding is being 
provided to NGOs for election dialogues and candidate fora. 
AID is coordinating election support efforts with other 
Embassy elements and with other donors, including the OAS, 
UNDP, German aid agency (GTZ) and the EU. 
 
¶10.  (U) Should an OAS mission be mounted, the Embassy will 
volunteer a core group of officers to participate in the 
monitoring effort.  We will also conduct and report on 
pre-electoral visits to key districts to report on specific 
races. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Given the potential for these municipal elections 
to affect political stability and confidence in democracy, we 
believe close international observation is justified.  The 
obvious institution to boost electoral certainty and 
confidence on election day is the OAS.  We therefore request 
USG support for an OAS monitoring mission. 
KENNEY