VZCZCXRO3719
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHCO #0219/01 1121028
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211028Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0283
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1262
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0335

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COTONOU 000219 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W DBANKS 
PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL BN
SUBJECT: BENIN: PEACEFUL LOCAL ELECTIONS AGAINST BACKGROUND OF 
IRREGULARITIES 
 
REF: (A) COTONOU 201 (B) COTONOU 104 (C) COTONOU 43 (D) 07 COTONOU 
817 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: On April 20, 2008, Benin held its second set of 
municipal and local elections since 1990.  Early results point to a 
defeat for President Yayi's new Force Cowrie for an Emerging Benin 
(FCBE) party in Cotonou and Porto-Novo.  FCBE did better in the 
north where preliminary results indicate it held on to the Mayor's 
office in Parakou. In general voters cast their ballots peacefully, 
but encountered several problems with missing or improperly printed 
ballots at the polls.  This resulted in the suspension of voting at 
some polling stations in southern Benin. Reports from the embassy's 
election observation teams found some voting irregularities, but 
none which 
marred the overall fairness of the elections. END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Elections Get Off to a Late Start 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) While voting for municipal and local elections should have 
started at 7:00 am on April 20, it began in earnest around 9:00 am 
at many polling stations while other polling stations did not open 
until much later.  The late start was due primarily to late delivery 
of voting materials.  In Cotonou, the Ambassador informed CENA First 
Vice President Mansourou Moudachirou that she had observed ten 
polling stations all of which started late due to absence of the 
mandatory number of officials required and/or late delivery of 
polling materials.  He said northern Benin was in better shape, 
because the military had delivered materials much earlier but 
acknowledged distribution problems in the south. In Porto-Novo, 
election workers told PolOff they did not receive their supplies 
until 3:00 am and then had only 4 hours to try to transfer them to 
several hundred polling places in the city. According to press 
reports, voting materials did not arrive in northern Benin until 
8:00 am on Election Day. 
 
3.(U) In addition to a late start, a lack of voting materials 
impacted voting across Benin.  At some polling stations, poll 
workers suspended voting because of ballot shortage. Embassy 
observers also found misprinted ballot papers, the absence of poll 
workers, and confusion about the duration of the polling during 
their observations. (Note: the law says polling should last 9 hours 
whereas some poll workers mistakenly kept polls open for 10 hours 
due to an error in the manual used by the National Independent 
Electoral Commission (CENA). End note).  Workers at most election 
sites also had to construct improvised voting booths which often 
offered little privacy for voters. 
 
¶3. (U) Faced with voting problems in several localities that made it 
impossible to conduct the election in the time frame prescribed by 
the law, the CENA suspended and then cancelled voting in those 
localities. A source from the CENA told the embassy that the CENA is 
expected to meet to examine the issue and decide whether to 
re-schedule the voting in the affected areas.  While most problems 
were relatively minor, the police arrested the president of a Local 
Independent Electoral Commission (CEC) in Glazoue (central Benin) 
when he was found allegedly stuffing ballot boxes. 
 
¶4. (U) President Yayi, after voting, acknowledged in a public 
statement that there were flaws in CENA's work. He pledged to 
introduce proposals for a reform of the electoral system. 
 
------------- 
Early Results 
------------- 
 
¶5. (U) According to partial results reported in the press, the 
former President Nicephore Soglo's Renaissance of Benin (RB) party 
is ahead in Cotonou, followed by the Party of Democratic Renewal 
(PRD) and then President Yayi's Front Cowry for an Emerging Benin 
(FCBE). In Parakou, Yayi's FCBE is said to have obtained the 
majority of the council seats while PRD remains ahead in its 
Porto-Novo stronghold. The CENA is still proceeding with a 
tabulation of the official results. 
 
-------------------------------- 
The Embassy's Observation Effort 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) The embassy deployed five teams to observe the polling in the 
southern Beninese cities of Cotonou, Ouidah, Seme and Porto-Novo. 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
COTONOU 00000219  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT:  While irregularities marred voting in several 
localities and there was a general lack of adequate voting 
materials, the elections appear, for the most part, to have been 
conducted in a fair and transparent manner.  The apparent failure of 
President Yayi's FCBE to win control of Cotonou is a serious setback 
for Yayi.  He and his ministers campaigned hard, and in the end 
failed to wrest control of Cotonou from RB.  While it appears FCBE 
won across northern Benin, and may hold a majority of Benin's city 
halls, RB and PRD will probably be re-energized to fight a president 
who, until now, had been riding on the coattails of his overwhelming 
victory in 2006.  END COMMENT. 
 
BROWN