Haitian election results questioned, opposition leads protests (Nov. 13, 2015)
One member of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council says he refused to sign the preliminary presidential and legislative results released last week because he doubts the credibility of the results.
Jaccéus Joseph told the Miami Herald that he expected more to be done to address allegations of electoral fraud -- but that the director of the Vote Tabulation Center said there wasn't enough time to thoroughly verify the voter registration lists against the ballots effectively cast on October 25.
(Last week the Miami Herald described the center as a secure warehouse in Port-au-Prince, staffed with technicians who meticulously reviewing votes and sequestering suspicious or fraudulent votes from the 13,275 polling stations across the country.)
The revelation comes as eight of the candidates and independent observers are demanding verification and the creation of an independent commission to review the election results. Yesterday protesters took to the streets for the second day -- accompanied by opposition presidential candidates, including the second place finisher, Jude Célestin.
Al Jazeera is reporting a climate of fear and intimidation in the capital, with demonstrators carrying machetes and handguns. Early yesterday a charred and mutilated body was found on a busy street in one of the city's wealthier neighborhoods, the victim of a group of armed men according to area residents.
The mess just seems to keep getting bigger. An elected legislator has accused an international staffer of the United Nations Office for Project Services of replacing ballot sheets during their transportation to the counting center. The UNOPS rejects the allegations, saying it represented a misunderstanding of the agency's role in the elections, reports the Miami Herald.
The issues are unfortunately not new, and represent an ongoing problem with this electoral year for Haiti, writes Elena Tiralongo for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. She notes that Haitians were often paid to participate in rallied or to vote, and that local civil society groups reported in August that the elections and pre-election period been plagued by killings, intimidation, and violence -- factors preventing a legitimate electoral outcome.
She argues that "overall, Haitians have seen that even though the international community has provided money and deployed troops in order to support Haiti’s economic, political stability, and development, these efforts have not always translated into positive results. This has resulted in a lack of trust in Haitian leaders and the international community, which has consequentially discouraged Haitians from engaging in the democratic process." The piece has a lot of background information on the country's economic and social situation and relationship with the international community and the U.S.
A piece in NACLA notes the irony of the current protests: Five years ago, Haiti's current president, Michel Martelly, was leading street protests, alleging massive fraud on the part of the government after preliminary election results left him out of a second round. Célestin, the candidate backed by then president René Préval, had come in second, and withdrew under pressure from the U.S.
Now protesters, including Célestin, are pressuring Martelly's candidate, Jovenel Moïse of the ruling PHTK party who came in first place with 32.8 percent of the vote. The piece notes the general apathy of Haitian voters: while presidential elections in 2000 and 2006 had participation rates of nearly 60 percent, this years had less than 30 percent.
The piece is critical of the international community, which author Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research accuses of standing by the current government despite years of denunciations of undemocratic practices by the opposition -- " seemingly giving its tacit approval."
Though international observers and the U.S. State Department signaled satisfaction with the voting process itself -- which was free of the violence that marred August's legislative elections -- "the low voter turnout and mounting claims of fraud shows that the election was hardly a victory for democracy," argues an op-ed on The Hill.
On a broader level, the U.S. political intervention in Haiti has caused instability and aid efforts have largely failed, argues Mark Weisbrot, also of the CEPR, in the Huffington Post.
News Briefs
Jaccéus Joseph told the Miami Herald that he expected more to be done to address allegations of electoral fraud -- but that the director of the Vote Tabulation Center said there wasn't enough time to thoroughly verify the voter registration lists against the ballots effectively cast on October 25.
(Last week the Miami Herald described the center as a secure warehouse in Port-au-Prince, staffed with technicians who meticulously reviewing votes and sequestering suspicious or fraudulent votes from the 13,275 polling stations across the country.)
The revelation comes as eight of the candidates and independent observers are demanding verification and the creation of an independent commission to review the election results. Yesterday protesters took to the streets for the second day -- accompanied by opposition presidential candidates, including the second place finisher, Jude Célestin.
Al Jazeera is reporting a climate of fear and intimidation in the capital, with demonstrators carrying machetes and handguns. Early yesterday a charred and mutilated body was found on a busy street in one of the city's wealthier neighborhoods, the victim of a group of armed men according to area residents.
The mess just seems to keep getting bigger. An elected legislator has accused an international staffer of the United Nations Office for Project Services of replacing ballot sheets during their transportation to the counting center. The UNOPS rejects the allegations, saying it represented a misunderstanding of the agency's role in the elections, reports the Miami Herald.
The issues are unfortunately not new, and represent an ongoing problem with this electoral year for Haiti, writes Elena Tiralongo for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. She notes that Haitians were often paid to participate in rallied or to vote, and that local civil society groups reported in August that the elections and pre-election period been plagued by killings, intimidation, and violence -- factors preventing a legitimate electoral outcome.
She argues that "overall, Haitians have seen that even though the international community has provided money and deployed troops in order to support Haiti’s economic, political stability, and development, these efforts have not always translated into positive results. This has resulted in a lack of trust in Haitian leaders and the international community, which has consequentially discouraged Haitians from engaging in the democratic process." The piece has a lot of background information on the country's economic and social situation and relationship with the international community and the U.S.
A piece in NACLA notes the irony of the current protests: Five years ago, Haiti's current president, Michel Martelly, was leading street protests, alleging massive fraud on the part of the government after preliminary election results left him out of a second round. Célestin, the candidate backed by then president René Préval, had come in second, and withdrew under pressure from the U.S.
Now protesters, including Célestin, are pressuring Martelly's candidate, Jovenel Moïse of the ruling PHTK party who came in first place with 32.8 percent of the vote. The piece notes the general apathy of Haitian voters: while presidential elections in 2000 and 2006 had participation rates of nearly 60 percent, this years had less than 30 percent.
The piece is critical of the international community, which author Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research accuses of standing by the current government despite years of denunciations of undemocratic practices by the opposition -- " seemingly giving its tacit approval."
Though international observers and the U.S. State Department signaled satisfaction with the voting process itself -- which was free of the violence that marred August's legislative elections -- "the low voter turnout and mounting claims of fraud shows that the election was hardly a victory for democracy," argues an op-ed on The Hill.
On a broader level, the U.S. political intervention in Haiti has caused instability and aid efforts have largely failed, argues Mark Weisbrot, also of the CEPR, in the Huffington Post.
News Briefs
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