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FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
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RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0142

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NOUAKCHOTT 000287 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID MR
SUBJECT: SEVERE CENSUS PROBLEMS BUT SUCCESSFUL VOTER LIST 
STILL POSSIBLE 
 
REF: NOUAKCHOTT 200 
 
Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) 
 
-------------- 
(C) Key Points 
-------------- 
 
-- According to electoral commission member Cheikh Saad Bouh 
Kamara, as of March 2, the scheduled halfway point for the 
census, only about 30% of all eligible voters have been 
counted and registered. (This census is designed not to count 
the number of all Mauritanians but to register those eligible 
to vote.) 
 
-- Given the slow progress in the census and associated voter 
registration, the Ministry of the Interior will extend the 
census by as much as one month, according to the UN,s 
electoral assistance team. 
 
-- The UN team has heard reports of Afro-Mauritanians having 
a harder time getting national ID cards than have Moors, but 
the team has no direct evidence of such discrimination. 
 
-- Even with these problems, the June 24 constitutional 
referendum has not (yet) been delayed. 
 
------------ 
(C) Comments 
------------ 
 
-- The census and associated national voter list are hugely 
important. 
 
-- If a flawed census produces a national voter list that 
fails to meet international standards, then Mauritania will 
be right back to where it was in 2003.  During the 2003 
presidential election, many Mauritanians viewed the election 
of President Taya as fraudulent, because the national voter 
list was incomplete and skewed. 
 
-- Any political leader elected on the basis of a similarly 
suspect voter list will lack legitimacy.  That will encourage 
political gridlock and more coup-plotting. 
 
-- The Embassy continues to press the electoral commission 
and transitional government to meet international standards 
for the census and voter list.  The Ambassador plans to speak 
out publicly on the issue next week during a trip to northern 
Mauritania, when he will meet with regional political party 
leaders and election commission workers. 
 
End Key Points and Comments. 
 
¶1. (U) Emboffs met with members of the UN's Electoral 
Assistance Team, an NDI representative and a member of the 
National Independent Electoral Commission March eighth and 
ninth to discuss the status of the census/voter registration 
drive currently scheduled to end March 16. 
 
------------------------- 
CENSUS COUNT AND TIMELINE 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) According to electoral commission member Cheikh Saad 
Bouh Kamara, as of March 2 -- the scheduled halfway point for 
the census -- 302,000 voters had been registered out of what 
he estimated to be between 900,000 and 1,000,000 eligible 
citizens.  "The process is approximately 30 percent 
complete," Kamara said, adding that "after hitting a few 
delays in the first week we have begun registering people at 
a faster pace." 
 
¶3. (C) National Democratic Institute representative Eric 
Duhaime told Ambassador on March 9 that the government and 
electoral commission have "continued to lower the estimate of 
eligible citizens from an original figure of more than 1.3 
million, down to 1.1 million, and now to as low as 900,000," 
adding that "the census is clearly not going to be as 
successful as some had originally hoped." 
 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000287  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶4. (C) Principal Technical Advisor for the UN,s Electoral 
Assistance Project Mathieu Bile Bouah told DCM that the 
decision to extend the census by two weeks to one month had 
already been made within the government, but would not be 
made public until just before the scheduled end of the census 
on March 16.  According to Bile this was designed to avoid 
discouraging would-be voters from registering in accordance 
with the current timeline. 
 
¶5. (C) The voter lists -- which the National Office for 
Statistics began creating March 2 -- are scheduled for 
completion in May, with the Constitutional Referendum set for 
June 24.  However, the census extension will likely push the 
completion of the voter lists into June.  There has been no 
discussion of a potential extension of the June 24 Referendum 
date. 
 
----------------------------- 
DISCRIMINATION IN THE CENSUS? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) The UN team has noted reports in the press and 
elsewhere of Afro-Mauritanians having a harder time getting 
National ID Cards and registering than Moors, but has no 
direct evidence of such discrimination.  The team has the 
impression that the electoral commission is supportive of the 
inclusion of all Mauritanians in the census, but does not 
know if this sentiment is shared by the Ministry of the 
Interior that is actually conducting the census. 
 
¶7. (C) The team noted that whether institutionally encouraged 
or not, discrimination of Afro-Mauritanians is a national 
reality that could result in harassment or discrimination in 
the National ID Card issuance and census processes. 
 
¶8. (C) Kamara responded to this point by expressing his 
confidence in the "open and fair approach" exhibited by the 
officials.  He gave several examples of registration problems 
that have affected Moor and Afro-Mauritanian citizens alike, 
and outlined the steps taken to ensure that future problems 
are addressed in a timely manner -- including improved access 
by citizens to regional and national electoral commission 
members. 
 
¶9. (C) Kamara added that while limited discrimination was 
possible, the statistics he had seen showed healthy 
registration and National ID Card issuance rates throughout 
the country, including along the Senegal River where a 
majority of the citizens are Afro-Mauritanian -- he was not 
able to provide Poloff with specific statistics during the 
meeting, but promised to do so in the subsequent days. 
Kamara added that the government had taken several steps to 
ensure strong Afro-Mauritanian participation in elections, 
citing the voter lists which will be published in both Arabic 
and French -- in past elections the lists were in Arabic 
only, a language not spoken by many Afro-Mauritanians. 
 
------------------------------- 
WHERE CAN VOTERS BE REGISTERED? 
------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) In their General Assembly meeting March 3, members of 
the National Independent Electoral Commission announced that 
Mauritanian law prohibits the registration of voters or 
candidates in an area that they had not resided in for at 
least the previous six months.  The electoral commission 
followed the declaration with an official request to the 
government to take action to stop the growing practice. 
According to Kamara, the action was needed to "scare those 
that had been hiring trucks and transporting citizens from 
their community to other -- potentially more strategic -- 
areas to be registered to vote."  Kamara went on to explain 
that "many electoral zones have as few as 1,000 eligible 
voters and such a transplanting of voters could greatly 
affect the results of the municipal elections in these areas." 
 
¶11. (C) According to Christine MacCallum, the Training Expert 
with the UN,s Electoral Assistance Project, commission 
members had received numerous calls on their personal phones 
both in support of and opposition to such "displaced" 
registration.  The UN team believes that the commission was 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000287  003 OF 003 
 
 
thus under significant pressure to take a public stand on the 
matter.  Bile added that the electoral commission should have 
investigated the matter more fully and suggested solutions to 
the government, rather than merely making a legalistic 
declaration and leaving it to the government for resolution. 
 
¶12. (C) Bile also acknowledged that potential candidates are 
registering in areas where they have tribal ties, rather than 
where they live, in order to have a better chance of winning. 
 Also unresolved is where people who live in rural areas not 
incorporated into a commune will be allowed to vote. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
ELECTORAL COMMISSION PLANS FOR ELECTIONS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (C) Kamara said the electoral commission wants to hire 
and train 4,000 representatives to ensure that one electoral 
commission representative is present at each polling station 
during elections.  These representatives would serve as "the 
eyes and ears of the commission" and could "help ensure that 
there aren't any problems on election day," Kamara said.  The 
commission has asked the UN to provide funding and technical 
training to achieve this.  However, the UN team told Emboffs 
that this was unlikely due to limited resources and timing 
constraints. 
 
¶14. (C) To address the difficulties of issuing National ID 
Cards in rural areas (reftel) the electoral commission has 
asked the Ministry of the Interior to provide mobile ID card 
teams that could travel to remote areas and issue ID cards to 
citizens far removed from the ID card centers located in 
major cities. 
LeBaron