Haiti's long-awaited elections come off with some violence and hitches (August 10, 2015)
Long-awaited elections legislative elections in Haiti were finally carried out yesterday and were considered successful, though voting was suspended at dozens of centers due to irregularities and violence, reports the Miami Herald.
Al Jazeera reports that despite the violence, international observers believe the elections went well. Lengthy delays affected polling in many places in first legislative elections since President Michel Martelly came to power in May 2011, according to AFP. People had to wait for ballots a few hours after voting was supposed to start at 6 a.m and in sections of Port-au-Prince, voters were told they couldn't cast ballots because their names weren't on official voting lists, reports the Associated Press.
Electoral authorities said about 290,000 voters could not cast ballots; it was not immediately clear if make-up balloting would be scheduled.
The head of the Provisional Electoral Council (known as the CEP) has promised to resolve issues of violence, which affected four percent of the voting centers, according to the Herald piece.
Nearly six million voters (out of the Haiti's 10.3 million people) were eligible to take part in the elections, reports Al Jazeera. Voter turnout data is expected today, but AFP says it was low.
Organizational problems plagued the polls, reports the Miami Herald. For example four days before the elections there were electoral lists without voter names. While at a voting station somebody grabbed a ballot box and ran with it, while being pelted with rocks by people on the street.
The Associated Press reports that at least three voting centers in Port-au-Prince were shut down by authorities after fistfights broke out as partisans attempted to stuff ballot boxes and engage in other visible irregularities. And at one voting center in the capital groups of young men ripped up paper ballots as heavily armed police shot into the air to re-establish order.
Over 1,855 candidates from 128 parties competed to fill 20 Senate and 119 Chamber of Deputy seats -- a vital exercise in a country where congress has been suspended since the beginning of the year. The legislative elections had been postponed for nearly four years due to a political showdown between Haiti's executive and the political opposition reports the Associated Press. (According to theChristian Science Monitor many have run just to gain the immunity granted legislators as a way to avoid prosecution for past crimes!)
Most reports agree that the importance of the election goes well beyond the immediate political results, and is a test of Haiti's political stability. Last month U.N. officials emphasized that the elections are a milestone and that there have been significant challenges in in meeting requirements for a fair process.
The U.N. has been on a decade-long project to promote democracy in Haiti, explains a Christian Science Monitor editorial, which called Sunday's election a test of the country's ability to self-govern.
"Haiti's history is full of dictatorships, coups, poverty, and environmental disasters. To counter this narrative and break a cycle of dependency, the first step is to plant the idea that elections can reflect the people’s desire for responsive, law-abiding institutions. The UN failed to achieve that when it rushed an election in 2011 so soon after the earthquake. By contrast, these elections are run more by Haitians themselves. They involve better-trained police and more organized balloting, such as the use of public schools for voting. No party is boycotting the election this time. Such steps are necessary to lower the cynicism toward democracy and raise the turnout at the ballot box."
There has been fear of violence in the lead-up to the elections (see July 16th's post). But the CSM piece notes that violence yesterday was less than in previous elections and that leaders were more outspoken in their opposition to it.
According to Haiti's electoral system, one-third of the senate is supposed to be renewed every two years, but following the cancellation of elections in 2012, two thirds of the seats were up for grabs.
This is just the first of three rounds of voting for this year (see July 16th's post regarding the significant funding gap faced by the government). Candidates who make it through yesterday's round of voting will face the second round on October 25, which will also be the first round of presidential elections. A potential run-off for the presidential race would be in December.
The issue of observers was critical, reports the Miami Herald. Accreditation for political party observers was difficult and many complained they were not permitted inside voting centers.
AFP reports on the difficulties of monitoring the election. "After voters, poll officials and international observers were crammed into polling stations, little room was left for candidates' representatives, who were promised a space in hopes of stemming ballot fraud. The electoral board has asked the numerous representatives to draw lots so that only five are simultaneously present, creating a source of friction."
A BBC piece looks at the ongoing question of aid and Haiti, noting that since the earthquake international donors have pledged more than $10 billion of aid to Haiti, over half of which has already been spent. U.S. government funds through 2020 tally up to $13.4 billion. The money keeps thousands of foreign NGO's active in Haiti, but critics of aid programmes argue that a culture of aid dependency has developed in Haiti and that government systems in the country are weak in part because international aid staff are performing functions that should be carried out by local officials, reports the BBC.
(See June 4th's briefs on a scathing investigation by ProPublica and NPR that found that the American Red Cross has achieved almost nothing on the ground with the nearly $500 million for post earthquake aid in Haiti.)
History buffs might be interested in PRI's look at the 19-year U.S. occupation of Haiti which began 100 years ago. The reasons were strategic -- to counter German economic and political influence on the island -- and financial -- Haiti owed money to American creditors and a sugar company was interested in owning land there -- explains Christopher Woolf.
News Briefs
Al Jazeera reports that despite the violence, international observers believe the elections went well. Lengthy delays affected polling in many places in first legislative elections since President Michel Martelly came to power in May 2011, according to AFP. People had to wait for ballots a few hours after voting was supposed to start at 6 a.m and in sections of Port-au-Prince, voters were told they couldn't cast ballots because their names weren't on official voting lists, reports the Associated Press.
Electoral authorities said about 290,000 voters could not cast ballots; it was not immediately clear if make-up balloting would be scheduled.
The head of the Provisional Electoral Council (known as the CEP) has promised to resolve issues of violence, which affected four percent of the voting centers, according to the Herald piece.
Nearly six million voters (out of the Haiti's 10.3 million people) were eligible to take part in the elections, reports Al Jazeera. Voter turnout data is expected today, but AFP says it was low.
Organizational problems plagued the polls, reports the Miami Herald. For example four days before the elections there were electoral lists without voter names. While at a voting station somebody grabbed a ballot box and ran with it, while being pelted with rocks by people on the street.
The Associated Press reports that at least three voting centers in Port-au-Prince were shut down by authorities after fistfights broke out as partisans attempted to stuff ballot boxes and engage in other visible irregularities. And at one voting center in the capital groups of young men ripped up paper ballots as heavily armed police shot into the air to re-establish order.
Over 1,855 candidates from 128 parties competed to fill 20 Senate and 119 Chamber of Deputy seats -- a vital exercise in a country where congress has been suspended since the beginning of the year. The legislative elections had been postponed for nearly four years due to a political showdown between Haiti's executive and the political opposition reports the Associated Press. (According to theChristian Science Monitor many have run just to gain the immunity granted legislators as a way to avoid prosecution for past crimes!)
Most reports agree that the importance of the election goes well beyond the immediate political results, and is a test of Haiti's political stability. Last month U.N. officials emphasized that the elections are a milestone and that there have been significant challenges in in meeting requirements for a fair process.
The U.N. has been on a decade-long project to promote democracy in Haiti, explains a Christian Science Monitor editorial, which called Sunday's election a test of the country's ability to self-govern.
"Haiti's history is full of dictatorships, coups, poverty, and environmental disasters. To counter this narrative and break a cycle of dependency, the first step is to plant the idea that elections can reflect the people’s desire for responsive, law-abiding institutions. The UN failed to achieve that when it rushed an election in 2011 so soon after the earthquake. By contrast, these elections are run more by Haitians themselves. They involve better-trained police and more organized balloting, such as the use of public schools for voting. No party is boycotting the election this time. Such steps are necessary to lower the cynicism toward democracy and raise the turnout at the ballot box."
There has been fear of violence in the lead-up to the elections (see July 16th's post). But the CSM piece notes that violence yesterday was less than in previous elections and that leaders were more outspoken in their opposition to it.
According to Haiti's electoral system, one-third of the senate is supposed to be renewed every two years, but following the cancellation of elections in 2012, two thirds of the seats were up for grabs.
This is just the first of three rounds of voting for this year (see July 16th's post regarding the significant funding gap faced by the government). Candidates who make it through yesterday's round of voting will face the second round on October 25, which will also be the first round of presidential elections. A potential run-off for the presidential race would be in December.
The issue of observers was critical, reports the Miami Herald. Accreditation for political party observers was difficult and many complained they were not permitted inside voting centers.
AFP reports on the difficulties of monitoring the election. "After voters, poll officials and international observers were crammed into polling stations, little room was left for candidates' representatives, who were promised a space in hopes of stemming ballot fraud. The electoral board has asked the numerous representatives to draw lots so that only five are simultaneously present, creating a source of friction."
A BBC piece looks at the ongoing question of aid and Haiti, noting that since the earthquake international donors have pledged more than $10 billion of aid to Haiti, over half of which has already been spent. U.S. government funds through 2020 tally up to $13.4 billion. The money keeps thousands of foreign NGO's active in Haiti, but critics of aid programmes argue that a culture of aid dependency has developed in Haiti and that government systems in the country are weak in part because international aid staff are performing functions that should be carried out by local officials, reports the BBC.
(See June 4th's briefs on a scathing investigation by ProPublica and NPR that found that the American Red Cross has achieved almost nothing on the ground with the nearly $500 million for post earthquake aid in Haiti.)
History buffs might be interested in PRI's look at the 19-year U.S. occupation of Haiti which began 100 years ago. The reasons were strategic -- to counter German economic and political influence on the island -- and financial -- Haiti owed money to American creditors and a sugar company was interested in owning land there -- explains Christopher Woolf.
News Briefs
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