VZCZCXRO5912
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHRY #0713/01 3251611
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201611Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY CONAKRY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3166
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000713 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL ASEC GV
SUBJECT: GOG SAYS IT IS ON TRACK TO HOLD ELECTIONS IN MARCH 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  The new secretary general of the Ministry 
of Territorial Administration says that the voter 
registration process will be completed by the end of 
December, and that the government is on track to hold its 
legislative elections in March.  Despite contact's optimism, 
the process of obtaining the required presidential decree to 
actually set an election date may not be as straightforward 
as he anticipates.  Contact appeared to be counting on the 
internationally funded voter registration process as a 
guarantee of transparency, and had not considered ways to 
address alternate opportunities for election fraud.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Poloff met with the new Secretary General of the 
Ministry of Territorial Administration and Political Affairs 
(MATAP), Abou Cheri Camara, on November 18.  Camara was 
appointed to his position on August 27.  His predecessor had 
been in the position for more than 15 years and had overseen 
every one of Guinea's past elections, all of which had major 
flaws.  Poloff has encountered Camara several times at 
various events, but this was her first formal meeting with 
him. 
 
------------------------------------- 
VOTER REGISTRATION TO END IN DECEMBER 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Camara said that the voter registration process is 
underway and on track to be completed by the end of December. 
 He acknowledged that the process has encountered several 
challenges since it was launched in August, but that "more 
than 70% of these issues have since been resolved."  Camara 
said the biggest problem at this point is that the voter 
registration equipment frequently breaks down and is 
difficult to maintain.  He added that ink shortages have also 
been slowing the process down.  With respect to MATAP's delay 
in getting per diem payments out to registrars, Camara 
assured Poloff that all the payments had already been 
dispatched to the voter registration teams throughout the 
interior. 
 
------------------ 
ELECTIONS IN MARCH 
------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Once the voter registration process has been 
completed, Camara said that the GoG should be able to set an 
election date.  He noted that Guinean law requires a 
presidential decree announcing elections 70 days before they 
are scheduled to take place.  According to Camara, the decree 
should follow shortly after the registration process is 
completed in December, meaning that the elections should be 
scheduled for sometime in March. 
 
---------------------- 
CLOSING THE BUDGET GAP 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Poloff asked about the status of the remaining 
budgetary gap of approximately 6 million euros, which the GoG 
has frequently raised as an obstacle to firmly establishing 
an election date.  Camara said that this issue has 
essentially been resolved since various donors, including 
Japan, Canada, the European Union, and France, plan to 
announce additional contributions to help close the gap. 
(COMMENT.  The World Bank representative to Guinea told 
Poloff later that evening that the additional contributions 
will cover approximately half of the remaining gap.  However, 
other GoG contacts have indicated that the government is 
working to cut extraneous expenses from the budget, which 
will also contribute to closing the gap.  END COMMENT). 
 
--------------------- 
DEFINING TRANSPARENCY 
--------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Camara emphasized that the GoG's number one 
priority is to hold elections and that this is his sole 
current objective as secretary general of MATAP.  Poloff said 
that it is not only a matter of holding elections, but of 
holding transparent, free, credible elections.  Camara 
agreed, saying that the improved voter registration process 
ensures that the elections will be transparent.  Poloff 
stressed that while voter registration is a critical part of 
the process, the GoG will need to be equally vigilant on 
other fronts.  As examples, Poloff pointed out that observer 
teams should play a critical role and that the process of 
counting votes should also be carefully considered in order 
to avoid fraud.  Camara said that observer teams have 
 
CONAKRY 00000713  002 OF 002 
 
 
participated in past elections and will do so again.  He did 
not offer any comment on counting procedures.  (COMMENT.  The 
USG has funding in place to support domestic election 
observation activities.  END COMMENT). 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Later in the meeting, Camara proudly pointed to a 
sample voter box that was still partially encased in 
packaging material.  The box was made of transparent plastic 
with holes for several locks around the lid.  Camara said 
"see, is this not absolutely transparent?" 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
NO PLANS FOR REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE RESHUFFLE 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Poloff noted that the GoG had recently been making 
a number of changes to key administrative positions in the 
government and asked if there were any plans to replace the 
prefects and governors that had been appointed by former 
Prime Minister Kouyate.  Camara said that the GoG does not 
plan to replace these officials across the board just because 
they were appointed by the previous administration.  He said 
that some individuals may be replaced on a case by case basis 
because of performance issues, as was recently the case with 
the prefect and governor of Boke. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Camara was optimistic that election preparations 
are advancing smoothly and anticipated no further delays. 
However, getting the official decree out of the president's 
office may not be as easy as Camara intimates, and nothing is 
likely to move forward until that decree is issued.  Camara's 
comments about transparency suggest that the GoG is relying 
on the internationally funded voter registration process to 
ensure that the elections are fair.  He did not seem to have 
considered other avenues of fraud, and although the National 
Independent Electoral Commission should be the main actor in 
preventing fraud, MATAP will also need to be involved. END 
COMMENT. 
RASPOLIC