VZCZCXRO1577
PP RUEHKN RUEHKR RUEHMJ
DE RUEHKN #0038/01 0860725
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 270725Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KOLONIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2239
INFO RUEHMJ/AMEMBASSY MAJURO 0413
RHMFIUU/COMNAVMARIANAS GU
RHHJJPI/PACOM IDHS HONOLULU HI
RUEHKN/AMEMBASSY KOLONIA 2602
RUEHKR/AMEMBASSY KOROR 0313

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLONIA 000038 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SOCI PHUM FM
SUBJECT: ELECTION DISPUTES IN CHUUK DELAY ANTICIPATED RUNOFF 
ELECTION 
 
REF: A. A) KOLONIA 28 
     ¶B. B) WEMHOENER-CUITE TO NEVILLE 27/3/09 E-MAIL AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  FSM national and Chuuk State elections took 
place on March 3, but state candidates still dispute the 
results.  On March 26, the Chuuk State Supreme Court decided to 
hold a revote for voters in Honolulu on April 1 and hold the 
gubernatorial runoff election between the top two vote getters 
on April 6.  The final outcome remains unclear.  End Summary. 
 
Gubernatorial Dispute and Court Decision 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) On March 11, gubernatorial candidate and former FSM Vice 
President Redley Killion submitted a complaint to the Chuuk 
State Supreme Court, contesting the results of the March 3 
election (ref B).  In the complaint, Killion raised concerns 
about count discrepancies from numerous polling sites.  The 
complaints stated that final vote counts did not match the 
counts originally tallied in front of poll watchers.  Individual 
complaints ranged from the single digits to approximately 60 at 
one site.  The primary complaint, however, was that the 
government prevented approximately 800 voters in Hawaii from 
voting due to a disturbance at the polling site.  According to 
the official results, Killion finished third in the election by 
about 120 votes. 
 
¶3.  (U) Chuuk State Assistant Attorney General Jason Robert 
confirmed to Political LES that the Chuuk State Supreme Court 
accepted Killion's complaint and determined that the state must 
hold a revote at the Honolulu polling site on April 1.  In 
conjunction with this decision, the Court determined that the 
ballots should be counted immediately on site.  Chuuk electoral 
regulations mandate that the state hold runoff elections between 
the top two vote getters in the event that no candidate receives 
a clear majority, within four weeks of the original vote.  Thus 
the court postponed the runoff election until April 6.  (Note: 
With the current count it will be impossible for any one 
candidate to obtain a clear majority through a revote in 
Honolulu alone.  End Note.) 
 
Outcome Still to be Determined 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In his explanation of the recent court decision on 
Killion's case, Assistant AG Robert added that legal proceedings 
may not be over.  Doone may decide to contest the decision or 
complain about other areas that Killion did not address.  Due to 
other possible but not yet submitted cases, Robert was not 
sanguine about a revote taking place in Honolulu on April 1 as 
currently scheduled. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  In a meeting between FSM President Emmanuel Mori and 
Ambassador Hughes, Mori predicted that despite the many ups and 
downs in Chuuk, incumbent Governor Wesley Simina would 
eventually hold on to his position.  FSM Foreign Secretary Lorin 
Robert (Chuuk) observed that the one true surprise was the 
amount of votes that Gillian Doone garnered.  Although Doone is 
not making the promises of political largess that the other 
candidates are, he is clearly galvanizing a significant segments 
of voters who are registering a desire for change.  Doone has 
not followed the traditional campaigning method of providing 
rice and other presents to supporters. Instead he has used a 
limited budget to use a CB radio to reach out to outer islands 
and focused his message on "issues."  Secretary Robert further 
contended that Simina hopes that Killion wins his court case and 
subsequent revote because the amount of attention Doone is 
generating is not in Simina's interest. 
 
Other Complaints 
---------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) In a letter addressed to Mori and many others, Chuuk 
State Senator Peter Aten asked the federal government to 
implement marshal law as a means to enforce an orderly revote in 
Chuuk.  Aten contends the initial state level elections were 
fraudulently conducted and require national oversight to correct 
the many wrong doings.  Per the official ballot count, Aten, who 
had a reputation as a rising young leader in the Senate from the 
Faichuuk region, lost his bid for reelection. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Bill Jaynes, editor of the only newspaper in the FSM, 
informed DCM Douglass that Attorney Kembo Mida is claiming there 
are serious allegations of fraud in Chuuk.  Mida currently 
represents Killion.  According to Jaynes, the allegations may be 
enough to "throw the entire election in doubt."  He plans to 
publish some of the allegations in the next edition of the 
Kaselehlie Press (scheduled for an April 1 release). 
 
 
KOLONIA 00000038  002 OF 002 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) To date Chuuk remains peaceful, but complaints about 
the state level elections continue to mount.  Rumors also 
continue to swirl about whether or not Killion and Doone will 
eventually work together to replace Simina.  Killion is 
distantly related to Simina and thus some of his extended family 
supporters may switch to Simina owing to clan allegiances in a 
runoff election.  The state elections in Chuuk clearly were not 
incident free, from ballot stuffing (ref A) to voter 
disenfranchisement, and more importantly they are not yet over. 
President Mori absented himself from a long anticipated ground 
breaking ceremony for reconstruction of the main road in the 
capital island of Weno on March 26 in order to avoid any 
appearance of favoritism.  Chuuk remains volatile and any 
outcome is still possible, including the still remote 
possibility of violence.  End Comment. 
HUGHES