VZCZCXRO6256
OO RUEHBI
DE RUEHLM #0632/01 1821134
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301134Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8350
INFO RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0976
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7965
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 6137
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4463
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 2135
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 8571
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 6016
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2840
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000632 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND SCA/RA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM MV
SUBJECT: MALDIVES:  INTERNATIONAL DONORS MEET TO PLAN 
ELECTION SUPPORT 
 
REF: COLOMBO 496 
 
¶1.  (U)  Summary.  Representatives from interested donor 
countries met in Colombo on June 20 to review the status of 
preparation for Maldives' presidential election in Fall 2008, 
discuss the assistance plans of the UN, Commonwealth 
Secretariat (CS) and European Union, and identify individual 
donor's pledges of support to the election process. 
 
Tight Timeline for Election Preparation 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) UK Deputy High Commission Mark Goodman reported 
that the GORM now says elections will most likely be held in 
October, after Ramadan.  For now, he said, the GORM is not 
considering a further postponement and is not ready to 
question the constitutional deadline of November 10 for 
swearing in a new president.  NGO Transparency Maldives gave 
a presentation to the donor group on the status of election 
preparations.  The group concluded that, even with the delay 
of the election to October, time is very tight to allow the 
constitution to be ratified, implementing legislation to be 
passed, and for key commissions and institutions to begin 
operating in time to oversee the election effectively. TM 
noted that even under the best scenario, the commissions will 
have only a month to operate before the election, giving them 
very little time to prepare for elections. 
 
International Support to the Election Process 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The UN has indicated that no final decision has 
been made on what level of support it will provide to the 
election process.  Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, 
however, has indicated that the UN intends to play little, if 
any, role in the upcoming presidential election. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The Commonwealth Secretariat is still formulating 
its approach.  A scoping mission is planned for August to 
help determine the appropriate level of support.  At a 
minimum, the CS is likely to be present on the day of the 
vote and to issue a statement on the result.  According to 
Goodman, the CS plans to coordinate its efforts closely with 
the EU. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  The EU plans two stages of support.  A four-member 
European Commission (EC) preparation team is already in place 
in Male' and will stay until the election.  This team will 
advise the GORM on preparing election legislation, educating 
voters, and developing a complaints and appeals procedure.  A 
three-member EC reporting team will be deployed one month 
before the election and will stay until two weeks after the 
vote to report on the election.  The EU plans to issue an EU 
Presidency Statement on the day of the election.  The 
reporting team will not be a full EU Election Observation 
Mission, but will produce a detailed report on the 
performance of the election for the EC and EU, which may be 
circulated more widely. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Eleven missions in Colombo have indicated their 
desire to support the election process by providing 
short-term diplomatic observers (STDOs).  At least 20 
observers from these missions (EC, Australia, Italy, Germany, 
US, Norway, UK, Switzerland, Canada, France, Netherlands) 
will augment the EC reporting team's observation efforts. 
Individual sponsoring countries will be responsible for 
funding their own observers but some logistical and 
coordination work will be handled by the EC.   The STDOs will 
be deployed primarily to polling stations in major population 
centers, but some will go to more distant peripheral atolls. 
They will be deployed for between 4 and 10 days, depending on 
the needs an budgets of the donating missions.   The EC 
reporting team will help train the STDOs in election 
observation methodology.  All information from these efforts 
will be shared with all participating missions and the CS so 
that any statements issued are based on the same raw data. 
 
Next Steps 
 
COLOMBO 00000632  002 OF 002 
 
 
---------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The donor countries agreed to meet again in late 
July or early August to confirm support and review deployment 
schedules.  The UK offered to prepare some draft common 
messages on the elections so that the donors can better 
deliver a consistent message to the GORM.  Australia 
undertook to check into and report on whether SAARC is 
planning to provide any election assistance.  The UK and EC 
agreed to update the GORM CS plans and to seek GORM agreement 
on hotel and transport arrangements for observers. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  The donor community's combined efforts 
and resources will gather many small contributions into one 
meaningful package.  A group of 20 or more observers should 
be able to get a good sense of how well the election is run. 
Key challenges in organizing this observer effort will be the 
short timeline for planning and continuing uncertainty about 
the date of the election.  It will be important to encourage 
the GORM's progress on reform without condoning elections 
before the necessary independent institutions are in place. 
MOORE