US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA718

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 000718 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, PHUM, PREL, CG 
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ASK FOR AN EXTENSION OF 
THE TRANSITION 
 
Classified By: Poloff Gons Nachman for Reasons 1.4 B and D 
 
1. (U) The President of the Independent Electoral Commission 
(CEI), Abbe Apollinaire Malu Malu, gave a press conference in 
Kinshasa April 28 to announce that the CEI would ask 
Parliament for an extension of the transition as provided by 
Article 196 of the transition's Constitution. Malu Malu said 
the written request will be delivered to the National 
Assembly and the Senate today. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
2. (C) As originally envisioned, Malu Malu's announcement was 
supposed to follow the conclusion of the current 
constitutional debate in the National Assembly, and was to 
have included the public unveiling of the electoral calendar. 
 However, under pressure from the EU to make the announcement 
in advance of the arrival of Louis Michel and Javier Solana 
April 29, Malu Malu jumped the gun and made half the 
announcement envisioned, i.e., that he will request 
officially the extension of the transition but without the 
mitigating influence of having completed the constitution and 
being able to outline the electoral calendar.  Popular 
reaction to his announcement could, therefore, be far less 
positive than hoped since it can easily be used by those 
elements -- such as the UDPS -- who already are trying to 
destablize the transition as further evidence that the 
government is merely trying to maintain its existence without 
moving toward elections.  The announcement is also 
essentially an empty gesture, given that Malu Malu will not 
make his official presentation to the plenary (which is a 
required step to launch the debate) until after the 
constitutional debate is concluded, hopefully sometime next 
week. 
DOUGHERTY