US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO2937

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 002937 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/PPC AND DRL 
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA 
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH 
DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, DR 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN ELECTION #50: OBSERVERS - MUCHOS OJOS 
 
 
1. (U) This is no. 50 in our series on the Dominican 
presidential election: 
 
ELECTION OBSERVERS - MUCHOS OJOS 
 
We expect as many as 250 international observers, including 
160 associated with the OAS Electoral Observation Mission, to 
be in the Dominican Republic to monitor the presidential 
voting and computation of returns on May 16.  Some 26 foreign 
countries will be represented, including 15 OAS member 
states.  Nearly all our contacts expect and welcome the 
international presence. Opposition parties and civil society 
groups want reassurance that the process is free, fair and 
transparent; Dominican Government authorities want an 
imprimatur on their management of the electoral process to 
help convince the public to accept the results.  Some 6500 
Dominican observers organized and trained by the USAID-funded 
NGO "Participacion Ciudadana" (Citizens' Participation) will 
greatly extend the reach of the electoral observation across 
the country. 
 
The international observers include the following who are 
receiving credentials from the Central Election Board (JCE): 
 
-- 39 who comprise the OAS mission, funded by Canada, the 
United States, and the European Union, led by OAS expert 
Santiago Murray and accompanied by Deputy Secretary General 
Luigi Einaudi; 
 
-- diplomatic volunteers from local embassies and missions, 
including about 50 from the Embassy, who have received JCE 
and OAS credentials and will assist the OAS mission; 
 
-- 25 who comprise a mission of the International Foundation 
for Election Systems (IFES), funded by the private sector 
here and in the United States and led by former Colombian 
president Andres Pastrana; 
 
-- some 32 NGO representatives from 7 or 8 countries, 
including 5 Lima Accord countries, organized by the National 
Democratic Institute (NDI), financed partly by the OAS and 
partly by NDI; 
 
-- 3 from the Carter Center, financed by the OAS and 
integrated into the OAS mission; 
 
-- 36 members of electoral tribunals and commissions from 
countries of the Tikal Protocol and similar regional 
agreements and CAPEL (secretariat of the Tikal Protocol), 
sponsored by their governments and the JCE; and 
 
-- diplomats from locally accredited embassies and missions 
(up to 2 from each mission, including from this Embassy the 
Ambassador and DCM); and 
 
-- delegates from member parties of the Socialist 
International and possibly others in the region. 
 
The OAS mission is providing the main thrust of the 
international observer effort and will coordinate with the 
other observer entities.  The OAS has deployed field 
coordinators nationwide in ll regions including the capital; 
the coordinators will supervise other OAS observers and the 
diplomatic volunteers.  OAS experts on electoral data 
processing, logistics, and legal matters will cover relevant 
units at JCE headquarters and elsewhere as needed.  A core 
OAS group, which arrived May 3, will remain until May 21 or 
as long as necessary to ensure that all serious challenges or 
disputes have been resolved.  The OAS has briefed the 
diplomatic volunteers on observation procedures and 
guidelines.  The volunteers will visit polling stations 
(colegios electorales) in the morning (starting at 6:00 a.m.) 
and late afternoon (before the 6:00 p.m. closing), observe 
the counting of ballots at a station, accompany the transfer 
of the voting tally sheets (actas) to municipal election 
boards, and observe the scanning of the tallies into the 
JCE's computer network.  Some of the volunteers will gather 
samples for the OAS's planned "quick count" estimate of the 
returns, which will be communicated to the JCE prior to its 
announcement of official results. 
 
"Participacion Ciudadana" (PC), providing domestic observers 
for the fifth election since 1996, will deploy approximately 
6500 trained Dominican personnel on May 16, organized in 165 
regional and local observer teams linked to a five-person 
operations center.  They will operate independently, but in 
coordination with, the international observers, and will 
produce a "quick count" using a different methodology from 
the OAS -- more time-consuming, but with a narrower margin of 
error.  PC's permanent staff since last year has monitored 
election preparations, campaigners' behavior, and political 
advertising, issued detailed weekly bulletins about 
developments, and advocated substantive discourse by the 
candidates.  PC has also assisted the JCE with recruitment 
and training of qualified poll workers.  After the election, 
PC will assess the reliability of the computer processing of 
the vote count and the overall election process and take 
appropriate action with regard to any post-election 
difficulties. 
 
The observers from U.S.-based NGOs (IFES, NDI, and Carter 
Center) will operate with varying degrees of autonomy.  The 
IFES mission will operate independently in Santo Domingo and 
the provinces, in consultation with the OAS to avoid 
unnecessary duplication, and will concentrate on technical 
aspects of the election.  The NDI group of NGO reps will 
accompany "Participation Ciudadana" to learn how to organize 
and conduct domestic election observation, for the purpose of 
organizing similar efforts in their home countries.  The 
Carter Center representatives will be integrated into the OAS 
observer mission.  The Carter Center "mediator" as needed is 
Arturo Valenzuela, who helped negotiate the agreement that 
ended a crisis during the 1994 Dominican elections and 
resulted in a truncated two-year term for former president 
Joaquin Balaguer.  Valenzuela arrives on Sunday, so he will 
meet with candidates and other players on election day. 
Shelley McConnell, senior associate director of the Carter 
Center, will accomnpany OAS Deputy SYG Einaudi, and historian 
Jonathan Hartlyn, a prominent expert on the Dominican 
Republic, will complete the center's contingent. 
 
2. (U) Drafted by Bainbridge Cowell. 
 
3. (U) This report and others in our election series can be 
read on the SIPRNET at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ index.cfm along 
with extensive other current material. 
HERTELL