US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA981

UNCLAS  BRATISLAVA 000981 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
BUDAPEST PLEASE PASS USAID/MNOWICKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KDEM, SOCI, LO 
SUBJECT: NO ROMA CANDIDATES WON IN SLOVAK REGIONAL ELECTIONS 
 
REF: BRATISLAVA 948 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  The National Democratic Institute (NDI) 
in Slovakia continues to invest considerable time and effort 
towards the development of viable Roma political candidates. 
Their latest project -- training Roma candidates in 
Slovakia's November 26 regional elections (reftel) -- yielded 
6 active Roma candidates who ran in various Slovak regions. 
Most successful was Peter Pollak, a candidate NDI felt best 
utilized the lessons taught in their seminars.  Other 
candidates took their training less seriously and fared 
poorly; NDI hopes that this will serve as a "wake-up call" to 
Roma candidates in the next election cycle that their lessons 
of campaign organization, voter outreach, and communication 
must be heeded if Roma candidates are to transform themselves 
into a viable political force within mainstream parties, 
rather than as independents or members of Roma parties.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
THE MAKING OF A ROMA CANDIDATE 
------------------------------ 
 
2.  (SBU)  The National Democratic Institute in Slovakia has 
dwindled to a two-person staff working on one very meaningful 
project:  political training for Roma candidates.  The 
training, which focuses on developing basic political skills 
such as voter outreach, media strategy, and image crafting, 
saw five graduates enter the race for regional parliamentary 
seats in the November 26 election (reftel).  Three of the 
candidates ran as independent candidates, including Peter 
Pollak, the candidate identified by NDI as the one who most 
comprehensively implemented the lessons he had learned and 
who fared best in the polls as a result.  One ran with a 
coalition of mainstream parties; two others ran as candidates 
of a Roma political party. 
 
3.  (SBU)  NDI believes that the 2005 regional election cycle 
was the most successful for the Roma community in recent 
years, despite the fact that no Roma candidates were elected 
to office.  NDI noted some positive trends:  a)  the smaller 
number of candidates avoided "splitting the vote" as the 
plethora of candidates in 2001 regional elections had done; 
b) the emergence of cooperation between mainstream parties -- 
particularly Smer -- and Roma candidates.  In particular, NDI 
was pleased with the professionalism and respect displayed by 
Zdenko Trebula, the HZD-Smer coalition candidate for Zupan 
(governor) of Kosice.  Trebula pledged to work with the 
candidates regardless of the outcomes; the candidates 
returned the favor by campaigning for Trebula before the 
December 10 run-off election, which he won. 
 
THE CASE OF PETER POLLAK 
------------------------ 
 
4.  (SBU)  Independent candidate Peter Pollak came closest to 
winning a seat in one of Slovakia's regional parliaments.  An 
NDI score-card lists his impressive accomplishments.  Pollak: 
 
- Ran the best and most professional Roma campaign in 
history, organizing a large team including a campaign 
manager, and 70 volunteers from all 20 Roma settlements in 
his region; 
- Developed effective campaign literature and "message;" 
- Focused on direct voter contact. 
- Managed to get the highest number of votes in the history 
of Roma candidates, missing the mandate by only 178 votes; 
- Finished eighth out of 54 candidates (the top seven 
candidates won seats in the parliament); 
- Finished higher than current SDKU MP Karol Mitrik; 
- Received the highest tally of votes of any candidate in six 
of 36 municipalities; 
- Is the first substitute in the event a seat becomes vacant 
in his electoral district; 
 
5.  (SBU)  Pollak's campaign was also noteworthy in that it 
motivated 2500 of his district's 7000 Roma voters, a turnout 
of 35.7 percent in a region where only 19.2 percent of the 
general population came to the polls on election day. 
However, NDI noted that Pollak failed to target urban (more 
integrated) Roma, and was more successful in settlements. 
 
HOW RUSKO STOLE CHRISTMAS FROM POLLAK 
------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  Poloff met separately with Alexander Patkolo of 
the Roma Initiative, a former political operative close to 
Meciar's HZDS party who has since abandoned the formal 
relationship with HZDS in favor of an informal relationship 
with ANO.  However, Patkolo said that they are now interested 
 
in reaching out to SDKU, and requested that the Ambassador 
put in a good word for his organization with Dzurinda.  He 
boasted that his group has data showing that they would bring 
2 - 3 percent of the general electorate with them in next 
year's elections. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Patkolo, however, may not be the best person to 
identify what the Roma community needs.  While NDI is hopeful 
that SDKU will work with the Roma community in the future 
(SDKU reportedly believes its inattention to the Roma vote 
was a key factor in its loss in the 2004 Presidential 
elections), it is wary of Patkolo.  During Pollak's campaign, 
Patkolo allegedly came in to the region with a large amount 
of ANO money which he used to "buy" votes and draw voters 
away from NDI's Roma candidates.  Patkolo's money had another 
adverse effect, as well:  it propelled another Roma candidate 
into Pollak's race, where the candidate -- they mayor of a 
large Roma community -- discouraged his citizens from voting 
for Pollak.  According to NDI, had Pollak performed better in 
that community, he would have won office; they see this as 
another illustration that Roma communities still spend too 
much time, energy, and money fighting with each other to 
organize a unified, successful "Roma party." 
 
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 
--------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU)  NDI's political training was funded from National 
Endowment for Democracy (NED) money this year, but NDI 
officials tell us that an increase in funding would directly 
correspond to an increase in the number of Roma candidates 
they could begin preparing for elections at all levels of 
government.  Not discouraged in the least by the results of 
the regional elections, NDI plans to build upon the lessons 
learned by their candidates as they move forward, and hope 
that they can increase the attention mainstream parties pay 
to the Roma community.  NDI says many of the campaign staff 
for Patkolo and others have expressed an interest in becoming 
candidates for the December 2006 municipal elections, and 
were emboldened by meetings they hosted for their candidates 
with SDKU Vice Chairman Milan Hort and KDH Chairman of 
Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky, who were reportedly impressed 
with the candidates, asking NDI after where they found "these 
great Roma."  In the meantime, NDI says that -- with 
continued funding -- they will work to identify, train, and 
develop Roma who are already members of mainstream Slovak 
parties. 
VALLEE 
 
 
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