VZCZCXRO2049
OO RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHPC #0257/01 0921634
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 021634Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY LOME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7874
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2122
RUEHCO/AMEMBASSY COTONOU 3934
RUEHOU/AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU 8867
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0549
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LOME 000257 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR D'ELIA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL TO
SUBJECT: FRANCOPHONIE ELECTION EVALUATION MISSION VISITS 
TOGO 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: A technical evaluation mission from the 
Intergovernmental Francophone Agency (Francophonie), led by 
Nelson Messone, called on Ambassador on March 28 and shared 
observations of the political situation in Togo in the run up 
to legislative elections scheduled for June 24. The group 
noted that the National Electoral Commission (CENI), while 
spirited, is weak in technical execution of its work. Messone 
indicated that they would recommend that Francophonie provide 
training in election reporting to the Togolese media. End 
Summary 
 
¶2.  (U) A Francophonie technical evaluation mission from 
Paris, led by Nelson Messone from the Office of the Secretary 
General, along with counselors Ntole Kazadi and Mohamed 
Traore, called on Ambassador on March 28 and shared 
observations of the political situation in Togo in the run up 
to legislative elections scheduled for June 24. The mission 
has consulted widely, calling on members of the donor 
community, government ministries, political parties, 
journalists and members of civil society. The mission is 
assessing what election assistance the Francophonie will 
provide.  They indicated that they would probably provide 
training to the media. 
 
The CENI 
 
¶3. (SBU) The team noted that the CENI (Independent National 
Election Commission) has a positive spirit but seems weak. 
They lack a precise plan for their activities. The donor 
community is prepared to make major contributions to support 
the election, but the CENI has not yet produced a firm 
budget. Several months ago a fire damaged their computer 
system, and they have not fully recovered from the loss. A 
new election law was passed recently putting into effect the 
changes to the election process that were agreed in the 
Global Political Accord signed last August. The CENI has not 
yet produced a text of regulations to implement the law. The 
CENI has much to accomplish before June 24 and needs to pick 
up the pace. The Ambassador agreed that the CENI has good 
ntetios but hs two main problems - coming to decisions 
among themselves and coordinating their efforts with the GoT 
ministries involved with the elections.  The CENI would 
rather go to Burkina President Blaise Compaore for a decision 
on a difficult election issue than wrestle with the issue and 
make a decision themselves. The slowness of the 
decision-making process creates the risk of technical 
problems being politicized. The donor community is trying to 
mitigate that risk by pushing on the CENI to meet their 
commitments, but in the end, it is up to the Togolese. 
 
The electorate 
 
¶4.  (U) Messone noted that the body politic seems peaceful. 
There is some preoccupation about election security, but 
Messone said he sensed a certain good will on the part of the 
government. The mission was willing to give the GoT the 
benefit of the doubt in terms of their intentions to hold a 
good election. 
 
The opposition parties 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The principal opposition party, the UFC (Union des 
Forces de Changement) seemed ambiguous about the whole 
election process. They played hard to get when the National 
Dialogue group was formed and are hedging their bets at every 
turn. They bargained hard in reaching the Global Political 
Accord, which they signed in August 2006, but they have 
refused to participate in the Government of National Union. 
With their lack of engagement in the election process, they 
are missing an opportunity to energize their members to 
participate in the elections. The UFC wants some election 
observers to come from foreign militaries. There were French 
and West African military observers in Togo for the 1998 
elections, and their presence deterred the Togolese military 
from interfering with the election process. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The other major opposition parties, the CAR (Action 
Committee for Renewal) and CDPA (Democratic Convention of 
African Peoples), are participating in the Government of 
National Union and in the elections. They feel somewhat 
uncertain about the integrity of the registration process 
using the computer kits borrowed from the DRC. Both parties 
are concerned with election security. They know the system is 
 
LOME 00000257  002 OF 002 
 
 
not perfect, but they are of good will and are moving ahead. 
The Ambassador commented that although opposition party 
members are members of the CENI and have considerable control 
of the process, the old fear of being tricked in the election 
process persists. 
 
The media 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Messone and his group commented on the lack of 
professionalism among the press corps. Messone said he would 
recommend to his headquarters that they provide training to 
the press in election coverage. The Ambassador agreed that 
this kind of assistance would be useful and noted that the 
Embassy has conducted several seminars and held programs to 
attempt to raise the standard of political reporting by 
Togolese journalists. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: The Francophonie team's observations match 
post's assessment of the pre-election situation. For the 
first time in many years, the UFC has a chance to share power 
in governing Togo, but the party's leadership has been 
indecisive and prefers to play politics rather than engage. 
The CENI is weak and seems to need the push it is getting 
from the donor community to get voter registration and 
elections on track. There is in all likelihood too much work 
still to be done to have an election by June 24,  but no one 
is talking about a new date just yet. Post predicts that a 
new election date will be announced after the GoT has a 
better idea of how long it will take to deploy the voter 
registration kits and organize balloting.  The current 
Assembly's mandate expires in October, and we believe that 
September represents a hard deadline. End Comment. 
DUNN