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FM AMEMBASSY LUANDA
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INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LUANDA 000691 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AO
SUBJECT: THE NITTY GRITTY: A CLOSER LOOK AT THE ANGOLAN 
ELECTORAL PROCESS 
 
REF: LUANDA 411 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Angola's legislative elections on 
September 5 represent the culmination of a massive logistical 
undertaking.  The process has been sophisticated, imperfect, 
impressive, and chaotic. Ultimately, however, we assess that 
the electoral process will be viewed as a credible vehicle to 
express the will of the Angolan voters.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) There will be 12,400 polling stations nation wide, 
each of which will have up to four voting tables staffed by a 
minimum of three and maximum of five polling agents.  In 
addition, each table will have two electoral police, who are 
unarmed civilians tasked with controlling traffic in and out 
of the voting area.  To prepare their staff, the National 
Electoral Commission (CNE) gave over 275,000 individuals a 
five-day training program.  The EU observation mission told 
the Embassy that the length and duration of training far 
exceed international norms, but, nonetheless, there is 
concern that some staff members may have forgotten the 
training as it took place many weeks ago in some cases. 
 
¶3. (U) The CNE began delivering basic supplies for the 
stations (tables, chairs, lamps, etc.) to the provinces in 
late July and the ballets, voting lists and other sensitive 
materials are to have been delivered on September 2.  Polling 
stations will open nationwide on September 5 at 0700, with 
the staff arriving at 0500 to review the materials, seal the 
empty ballot boxes, and allow election workers and observers 
to vote before polls open to the public.  Voting ends at 
1800, but those in line prior to 1800 will be allowed to 
vote. 
 
Voting Procedures 
------------------ 
 
¶4. (U) As the general population comes to vote, the polling 
station staff first checks for ink on the right index finger, 
an indicator that the voter had previously voted, and then 
authenticates the voter's voter registration card checks off 
the name on the voter rolls.  The ballot is paper and 
contains the name, flag, and initials of the parties in an 
order determined by lottery.  After voting, the voter folds 
the ballot and drops it in a translucent, sealed ballot box. 
Polling station staff then dips the voter's right index 
finger in indelible ink, completing the voting process. 
 
Poll Monitors and Observers 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Political party delegates (poll watchers) are allowed 
to monitor the voting and can inspect all electoral 
materials.  Should they note any irregularities in the 
process, they must immediately notify the president of the 
voting table, who is also obliged to note the irregularity in 
the table's official record.  Complaints that are not noted 
at the time of occurrence will not subsequently be further 
investigated by higher authorities.  All party delegates must 
be properly accredited by provincial or municipal electoral 
authorities; their credentials clearly note their party 
affiliation. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Unlike the 1992 elections, civil society observers 
will be allowed to observe inside polling stations.  They 
cannot make notes in the voting station, lodge official 
complaints with polling station staff, or in any way 
interfere with the voting process.  Observers must also be 
officially accredited by electoral authorities. 
 
Vote counting 
-------------- 
 
¶7. (U) After the voting is completed, the president of each 
table counts all used and unused voting materials in full 
view of all at the polling station.  If the number of names 
crossed off the registration list equals the number of 
ballots cast, then counting begins.  If the number of names 
crossed off the registration list does not equal the number 
of ballots cast, then according to the electoral law the 
number in the ballot box overrides the registration list and 
counting also begins.  The actual counting procedure starts 
with the table president opening and verbally calling out the 
selected party, or determining that a ballot is blank or 
null.  These announcements are recorded by a second staff 
member, while the ballots are separated into piles by party. 
Finally, a third staff member recounts the votes in each pile 
and this is verified with the tally from the verbal scoring. 
Announcements are also confirmed by all political party 
delegates present.  Once the counting at each table is 
completed, the head of the polling station tabulates the 
combined results and then posts the results from all of the 
 
LUANDA 00000691  002 OF 003 
 
 
tables at the polling station on the door of the polling 
station. 
 
Complaints 
----------- 
 
¶8. (U) If a party delegate objects to the table president's 
decision about any ballot, (for example, that the ballot 
should not be considered null, or that another party was 
marked on the ballot), the complaint must be immediately 
stated; all disputed ballots are piled separately and will be 
reviewed at the municipal electoral office.  Complaints that 
are not made at the time of counting will not be subsequently 
reviewed. 
 
Tabulation 
----------- 
 
¶9. (U) The ballots, packed within double tamper-proof bags, 
then begin a three-tiered verification process.  First stop 
is the Municipal Election Office (GME), where formal 
complaints by the party delegates are reviewed, which could, 
consequently, alter the final tallies from each polling 
station.  The GME then transmits the results by fax to both 
the Provincial Election Commission (CPE) and the CNE control 
center in Luanda.  Ballots are also transported to the CPE, 
which will verify and count special ballots and allow for a 
second round of complaints.  Then these results, which 
conceivably could be revised due to review of complaints, are 
computerized for the final tabulation at the provincial 
level.  These provincial results must be completed, 
transmitted to the CNE, and posted on the door of the office 
by seven days following the election (September 12).  The 
final stop is the CNE in Luanda.  The CNE takes a final look 
at contested issues and must declare the final results and 
parliamentary seat allocation by 15 days after the election 
(September 20.) 
 
The Great Unknown: Special Ballots & Possible Delayed Polling 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Voters who are away from their assigned voting 
station for a legitimate reason or who have lost their voter 
registration card will be allowed to vote by special tendered 
ballot.  To accommodate these tender ballots, the CNE has 
given each polling station 15% more ballots than voters 
registered in its locality.  Special ballots are placed in a 
sealed blank envelope, then in a cover envelope in which the 
voter's identification information is written; the package is 
then deposited in a separate ballot box.  To enable station 
agents to account for all ballots at their table, at the end 
of the day the special ballot box will be opened and the 
number of envelopes counted, but the envelopes will not be 
opened.  Special ballots will be opened only at the CPE, 
after the voter is verified to be registered voter.  The need 
to verify and count special ballots and the logistical 
difficulty in transporting them to the CPE is one reason that 
the GRA extended the allotted time to announce results at the 
provincial level from 10 days to 15 days (reftel). 
 
¶11. (SBU) Procedures for securing and counting special 
ballots remain unclear.  There are clear international norms 
for these procedures: in order to maintain the secrecy of the 
vote and ensure that votes are counted towards the correct 
province, voters should be verified, the envelope then 
divided by province, i.e., all envelopes from voters who are 
registered in Luanda should go in one pile, Benguela in 
another, Huambo in another, etc., the cover envelopes then 
removed and all blank envelopes mixed together before opening 
and counting the ballots.  The fact that these procedures 
have not been articulated by the CNE as late as two days 
before the election is troubling to political parties and to 
international and civil society observation groups. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Another prospective issue is the potential for 
delayed polling for some polling stations.  The electoral law 
states that, should a polling station be unable to open or 
have its operations interrupted for more than three hours due 
to security problems or other "incidents" (a word widely 
interpreted to include logistical problems such as delayed 
deliver of polling station materials), voting will take place 
within a period of eight days.  If this occurs in a limited 
number of areas, such that the number of missing votes cannot 
impact the final tally, the CNE can announce the final 
results without waiting for these votes to be cast and 
counted.  If, however, delayed voting occurs in a significant 
number of stations, the announcement of final results could 
be delayed up to eight additional days. 
 
¶13. (SBU) COMMENT:  In planning Angola,s first election in 
16 years, electoral authorities seek nothing less than a 
 
LUANDA 00000691  003 OF 003 
 
 
world-class electoral process.  Nevertheless, there will be 
numerous logistical hitches and glitches on election day, 
though not so extensive as to invalidate the credibility of 
the process.  END COMMENT 
MOZENA