Haiti Deserves a Legitimate Election
NEW YORK TIMES
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD, DEC. 12, 2015
There is an electoral crisis in Haiti. An election in October to choose a successor to President Michel Martelly was so marred by reports of ballot tampering, illegal voting and other abuses that the result has been widely denounced as illegitimate.
Not just by the dozens of losing candidates — there were 54 people on the presidential ballot — but by independent election observers, human-rights groups, Haitian religious leaders, organizations of the Haitian diaspora and ordinary citizens who have taken to the streets in angry, sometimes violent, demonstrations.
The country is supposed to hold a runoff election on Dec. 27 between the first-place finisher, Jovenel Moïse, and the first runner-up, Jude Célestin. But Mr. Célestin has called the October results a “ridiculous farce” and threatened to withdraw from the runoff. He has formed a coalition of eight presidential candidates who are demanding an independent investigation of the first election and reforms to assure the integrity of the second.
About all that can be said in favor of the October balloting — for president, but also for Parliament and local mayors — is that it was less violent than usual. But by other measures of credibility, skeptical observers said, it was a colossal failure. Turnout was low, at 26 percent. Observers told of altered ballots, and of supposedly indelible ink that rapidly faded from voters’ thumbs. The government body managing the election, the Provisional Electoral Council, distributed more than 900,000 accreditation cards to representatives of political parties. The cards were meant to be a brake on fraud, but they may have spurred it: Those who carried them could enter polling places and vote even if their names were not listed. Observers said a black market in the cards arose, potentially allowing many buyers to vote early and often.
Mr. Moïse, President Martelly’s chosen successor, has declared himself satisfied with the October results. So has the Organization of American States and the State Department, which sent the special coordinator for Haiti, Kenneth Merten, to try to persuade Mr. Célestin to enter the runoff as planned, with promises of a better Round 2.
But the United States should know that it’s impossible to build a legitimate government on a rotten foundation. It should instead be pressing for an independent, Haitian-led inquiry to examine the October vote. The runoff should be postponed, so the October ballots can be openly counted and the results legitimized — if that is even possible, given the irregularities. And any effort at staging a credible election should include reform of the electoral council, which has been accused of partisanship and incompetence.
Since it was stricken by an earthquake nearly six years ago, Haiti has been on a slow path of righting itself, a path complicated by the struggle to rebuild the nearly obliterated Haitian government and to establish strong and sustainable Haitian-led institutions.
Voters in Haiti are distrustful and disheartened, with good reason. The country has no functioning Parliament; it disbanded in January when members’ terms ran out. Mr. Martelly has been ruling by decree. Haiti faces serious problems — a dysfunctional government, voter apathy, joblessness, poverty and cholera — even without a crisis of presidential legitimacy. Its current emergency may lie far from the center of global attention. But anyone who cares about democracy in a country whose fate is so closely tied to the wandering and sometimes malign attentions of the United States and the rest of the world should pay attention. Haitians deserve better than this.
Haiti Special Coordinator, Kenneth Merten,
Meeting Leaders in Port-au-Prince
and Engaging Stakeholders in Anse-à-Pitres
December 9, 2015
No. 2015/63
Haiti Special Coordinator Kenneth Merten arrived in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, December 3, for consultations with a range of political, business, civil society, and international community leaders. In his meetings, Special Coordinator Merten emphasized the United States’ support for fair and inclusive elections. Special Coordinator Merten urged all parties to work together to ensure that elections being organized are peaceful and credible.
Haiti Special Coordinator Kenneth Merten also visited Anse-à-Pitres on Monday, December 7 and Tuesday, December 8, to engage with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Non-Governmental Organizations working on migration issues with the Dominican Republic. He departed the country on Wednesday morning, December 9.
“There will be no elections on December 27th, (2015),” according to the Senator and presidential candidate for the political party Konviksyon, Steven Benoit, during a demonstration in the streets of Port-au-Prince, on the occasion of the international day of human rights, on Thursday, December 10, 2015.
"What we are experiencing is beyond imagination. We will continue the struggle in favor of publication of real election results," requires Benoit, in statements during a demonstration convened by different organizations of human rights in Haiti and to claim respect for the civil and political rights of the Haitian people.
Published fraudulent results would allow the candidates of the Party Haitian Tèt Kale (PHTK) to power and to invade the Parliament, denounced the candidate to the Presidency, placed in 8th position in the final results of the presidential election of October 25, 2015.
"As engaged citizens, we are here to tell the Government that the rights of Haitians are not respected: the right to food, to education, the right to vote and security," says Benoit, indicating that the Group of the eight (G8) protest candidates, he is part, remains always consistent in its position.
The G8 continues to demand the formation of an independent investigative commission to evaluate the elections of October 25, 2015; the cancellation of the second round of the presidential election - 27 December 2015 - announced by the stubborn provisional electoral council (Cep) despite the challenges that are growing in magnitude since the publication of the preliminary results, November 5, 2015; and the departure of Joseph Michel Martelly.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Evans Paul has begun a series of meetings for the establishment of a commission of election security.
For its part, the official candidate for the Phtk, Jovenel Moise, who came ahead in the presidential election results, is always campaigning, while rival Jude Célestin of Alternative for progress and emancipation League Haitian (Lapeh), placed in the second position, rejects any idea of going to the second round, on 27 December 2015.
“The Washington Post”
EDITORIAL
Haiti on the brink as newly elected president of Haiti in 2011, Michel Martelly, a former pop star, said high-mindedly that it was his dream to unify the Caribbean nation, whose chronic instability rivals its profound poverty as a source of suffering. Now, four years later, Haiti is as politically polarized as ever, and Mr. Martelly deserves a large share of the blame.
Amid repeated standoffs and squabbling over electoral rules between the president and his opponents, it took more than four years for the country to organize legislative elections. In the meantime, in January, the national parliament was dissolved after its term expired, and many local offices went unfilled.
Under Haitian law, Mr. Martelly cannot serve a second consecutive term, and a first round of presidential elections to choose his successor went forward in October. However, the balloting, which featured 54 candidates, was marked by fraud, vote-buying and repeat voting.
Whether the fraud was massive or simply extensive is a matter of debate. Either way, it took weeks to announce the final first-round tally, and confidence in the results was not helped by the fact that the top finisher was Mr. Martelly’s hand-picked successor — a previously obscure businessman named Jovenel Moise, who is known as “Banana Man.” (Mr. Moise has been active in promoting banana exports.) Protests and street violence have ensued.
With the runoff to elect a president set for Dec. 27, significant parts of Haitian civil society, including human rights organizations and the clergy, have called for a postponement to recount and verify the first-round results. So has the second-place finisher, Jude Celestin, who says he will not take part in the runoff without an independent review of the first-round results.
Mr. Celestin and others are at least partly justified in doubting the integrity of the process so far, as well as the independence of the nine-member provisional electoral council. However, starting from scratch or postponing the second round indefinitely is a recipe for ongoing upheaval and more violence.
A recount is fine in principle, but it has been blocked by the electoral council; in any event, there is no guarantee that it would be seen as accurate and impartial. A better way out of the impasse is to proceed with the runoff with guarantees of enhanced scrutiny by international election observers from the Organization of American States and elsewhere, including the United States. Organizing that may require a brief postponement, but it should not be drawn out over many weeks.
As Mr. Martelly noted shortly after taking office, Haitians are desperate for national reconciliation. He has failed to deliver it, despite the advantage of having been the only democratically elected Haitian president to take power from a democratically elected predecessor.
Going forward with fair and transparent elections to choose Mr. Martelly’s successor is critical if Haiti is to have any hope of achieving national consensus, let alone surmounting the lingering effects of the country’s cataclysmic 2010 earthquake and a cholera epidemic that continues to claim lives.
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Two truck drivers killed at the border by customs officers...
Haiti Libre - Sunday evening at border customs post of Thomassique (Central Department, 18 km of Hinche), according to preliminary information from the local police, customs officers opened fire on two trucks trying to enter the territory of Haiti avoiding control of their cargo. The two Haitian drivers : Nelson Déribert (53) hit by a bullet in the head died instantly and the other driver, Jean François Pierre, succumbed to his injuries during transport to hospital. Both were family men. Also according to police sources, the two drivers were known to the police for having previously been involved in acts of smuggling.
On Monday, the population under the shock of this news and very angry, took to the streets to protest against the violence of the customs officers, accusing them of being responsible for these two deaths. Barricades of burning tires were erected in the city center, and unidentified individuals set fire to the customs post, causing no casualties among customs officers, who were able to escape before.
Francisco Delacruz, parliamentary candidate for that constituency, criticized the excessive use of firearms by customs agents, against unarmed civilians.
The Unit for Maintaining Order (UDMO) was there in the middle of the day, but not intervene except by their deterrent presence, to avoid confrontation with the population and cause casualties...
According to our latest information warrants were issued against X against those responsible for the deaths of two drivers as well as against individuals involved in the fire at the customs office.
TB/ HaitiLibre