VZCZCXRO4136
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0623/01 1601745
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 091745Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1449
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 1364
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0314

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000623 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
KINSHASA PASS TO BRAZZAVILLE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: ELECTORAL COMMISSION STRUGGLES 
FORWARD 
 
REF: ABIDJAN 417 
 
Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Four months away from the October date by 
which Cote d'Ivoire's postponed presidential elections are 
supposed to be held, the CEI (Independent Electoral 
Commission) has ambitious, probably unrealistic plans to 
carpet the country with thousands of polling stations and 
train tens of thousands of election workers, but it has 
barely started its work and does not even have a notional 
timetable for getting to elections.  CEI president Mambe 
Beugre and his commission have been trying to move forward, 
but they face numerous obstacles, including the lack of 
operating funds and the absence of civilian administration in 
many parts of the country.  The fact that more than half of 
Ivoirians still don't have the citizen identification cards 
they need to register to vote is also a serious obstacle.  In 
this regard, tensions between the CEI and the National 
Commission for the Supervision of Identification (CNSI), 
which is responsible for issuing citizen identification 
cards, are not helpful.  The lack of urgency among the 
Ivoirian actors suggests a lack of realism about what the 
process involves.  Time to prepare for elections in October 
is running short.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Since its installation in March, the new CEI has been 
struggling to move forward.  During a May 3 conference in 
Grand Bassam, Beugre outlined his plans.  Beugre said the 
commission's overarching goal is to ensure that every citizen 
of voting age obtains all the necessary documents to enable 
him to exercise his civic right.  For their work, the CEI has 
divided the country into twenty geographical regions, each 
with a CEI supervisory team.  Within these twenty regions, 
there will be 427 local branches of the CEI.  Each branch 
will have representation byfrom the various political parties 
and local authorities.  They will observe and assist in 
pre-electoral operations and polling in the towns and 
villages, just as the CEI in Abidjan does on the national 
level. 
 
¶3. (U) In the 2000 elections, Cote d'Ivoire had 1650 polling 
stations, or an average of one station every 75 square miles. 
 For the upcoming elections, the CEI wants to have 22,000 
polling stations, or an average of one every 5.7 square 
miles.  The CEI also wants to work with journalists to create 
a code of conduct for the elections period, develop a CEI 
website, and publicize more widely the electoral code. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In preparation for the work ahead, 24 board members 
of the CEI traveled on May 18-27 to various towns in Cote 
d'Ivoire.  They visited the rebel-held, UN, and 
government-controlled zones and were accompanied by soldiers 
from the French Licorne peacekeeping force, the rebel New 
Forces (NF), and the Ivoirian armed forces (FANCI).  The 
trips were familiarization missions to have a better 
understanding of the challenges on the ground.  Contacts in 
the commission tell us that the obstacles are indeed numerous 
and expensive and include the following: 
 
PERSONNEL: 
¶5. (C) In most of the north and some areas of the south, 
there is an absence of government administration.  The 
government is waiting for disarmament to redeploy civil 
servants to rebel-held areas in the north and west, though 
some civil servants have already returned voluntarily. 
Without these workers, election preparations cannot begin. 
Furthermore, there exists a lack of election workers, 
especially in the west but in the north as well.  During a 
June 2 "Friends of the Elections" meeting headed by UN High 
Representative for Elections Gerald Stoudman, Beugre 
estimated that over 80,000 personnel would have to be 
trained.  CEI technicians, outside consultants, and NGO's 
would perform the training.  Beugre seemed not to have 
completely thought through all the logistics involved in 
conducting nationwide training of over 80,000 people in a 
country with bad roads, no formal postal addressing system, 
and unreliable telephone lines.  When asked how long the CEI 
estimated the training would take, he gave an unrealistic 
figure of two weeks. 
 
EQUIPMENT/BUILDINGS/POWER: 
¶6. (SBU) Schools and other public buildings that are used as 
voting locations are in disrepair throughout the country, but 
especially in the north and the west.  There are not enough 
polling booths, ballot boxes, padlocks, lanterns, stamps, and 
generators to support the elections.  Many villages do not 
have power at all and power outages are frequent in some 
 
ABIDJAN 00000623  002 OF 003 
 
 
parts of the country.  This increases the risk of security 
and fraud issues. 
 
COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES: 
¶7. (SBU) Most Ivoirians do not have land telephone lines. 
Currently, the mobile phone network is insufficient for the 
demands of the population.  The day of elections, all mobile 
phone networks are sure to be blocked from overuse.  Many 
small villages have neither mobile phone access, nor land 
lines.  All of these issues leave the local CEI offices with 
few options to communicate urgent problems with the home 
office during the election period.  Looking for solutions, 
Beugre suggested that the CEI use the UN, FANCI, and Licorne 
telecommunications systems during polling. 
 
MOBILITY: 
¶8. (SBU) Voters will need to get to polling locations and the 
local CEI offices will need to transport ballot boxes. 
However, the roads in Cote d'Ivoire are inadequate and there 
are not enough bridges.  Beugre cited examples where 
villagers had to go 150 kilometers out of their way to cross 
a river.  He said that commercial transporters are willing to 
help with the transport of voters, ballots, equipment etc., 
but only if they will be paid on time and fairly. 
 
SECURITY: 
¶9. (SBU) During the June 2 "Friends of the Elections" 
meeting, Beugre pointed out that security will have to be 
increased at polling locations and citizens will need to be 
aware of what security measures have been put in place. 
However, the police and gendarmerie lack vehicles themselves 
and it is uncertain that they will be able to secure all of 
the voting locations. 
 
IDENTIFICATION: 
¶10. (C) At the same meeting Alain Lobognon, the FN Vice 
President of the CNSI), made a combative speech about the 
importance of getting the Prime Minister to be more 
aggressive in the identification process.  (More than half of 
Ivoirians still do not have the citizen identification cards 
they need to register to vote -- Reftel).  During the May 
pilot identification project, 3137 people were promised 
certificates of nationality, but even this is still one step 
removed from the identification cards they need to vote. 
Another CNSI official commented that the June 2 meeting was 
timed too early because the CEI needs to be pressing harder 
for identification first.  Stoudman forcefully countered that 
at four months away from elections, the meeting was in fact 
too late. 
 
SHOW ME THE MONEY 
¶11. (C) None of these problems can be resolved without money. 
 But Prime Minister Banny, who is also the Minister of 
Finance, has not yet given the CEI any operating funds.  A 
member of the commission confirmed to us that their overall 
budget has been approved for 50 billion CFA (USD 98 million 
dollars).  About 38 billion CFA would go to operational 
activities and 6 billion CFA to the CEI's administrative 
costs.  Another 5 billion CFA is earmarked for paying off the 
debt of the last CEI.  However, none of these funds have yet 
been released.  Banny could give the CEI money each month and 
it is unclear why he has not chosen to do so.  Indeed, the 
CEI was only able to pay for their May activities thanks to 
USD 100,000 they received from the EU. 
 
INFIGHTING AND TURF FIGHTING 
¶12. (C) Harmony, never plentiful in the Ivoirian political 
environment, seems lacking among the electoral actors as 
well.  The Prime Minister has not been closely involved with 
the CEI.  He has sent low-level technicians to important 
meetings without a clear message from himself.  More 
troubling, he has effectively paralyzed the organization by 
not funding it.  The CNSI should be working as a tandem with 
the CEI but Lobognon's aggressive comments at the meeting 
suggest underlying tensions.  Indeed, within the CEI itself 
there have been tensions, though contacts on the commission 
tell us that relations among commission members are improving. 
 
¶13.  (C) COMMENT:  The road to elections is a complicated 
process paved with budgetary shortfalls and logistical 
challenges.  The lack of urgency among the Ivoirian actors 
(four months away, they don't have even a notional timetable) 
suggests a lack of realism about what the process involves. 
Bureaucratic and political fighting are sure to become more 
prominent as each office and actor competes for resources, 
the spotlight, and their own political agendas. The lack of 
urgency among the Ivoirian actors suggests a lack of realism 
about what the process involves.    Time to prepare for 
 
ABIDJAN 00000623  003 OF 003 
 
 
elections by October is running short.  END COMMENT. 
 
Hooks