Haiti Senate election founders, U.S. meddles

Haiti Senate election founders, U.S. meddles
Author: W. T. Whitney Jr.
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 04/28/09 12:37

They called an election in Haiti and almost nobody came. Turnout April 19 to vote for 12 open Senate seats was variously estimated at 3 to 10 percent. U.S. Ambassador Janet Sanderson was not discouraged: “Off-year elections in the United States as well as in other countries tend not be as well-attended as presidential elections.”

An AP headline suggested violence kept people away: "Few Vote in Haiti after Clash in City." But independent observers say apart from a minor fracas in the Central Plateau city of Mirebalais, all was quiet.

That was because the majority party was excluded and for large numbers the voting did not exist. Judge Jean-Claude Douyon ruled in March that Haiti’s Provisional Election Council (CEP) must allow the Fanmi Lavalas party’s Senate candidates to compete. Douyon was subsequently removed without explanation and his opinion disregarded.

Lavalas is the party that twice propelled Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti’s presidency. Aristide was removed by a U.S.-arranged coup in February 2004.
Under CEP rules, candidates must be authenticated by a party leader’s signature in order to participate in elections. Divided Lavalas factions came together so that Aristide, in exile in South Africa, could supply a signature for a unity slate of Lavalas candidates.

That protracted process fell apart when the CPE refused to accept Aristide’s facsimile signature arriving just prior to the deadline.

Operation Open Door, associated with Lavalas, organized an election boycott. On Election Day, five disallowed Senate candidates fasted in the parliament building, provoking an arrest order from President Rene Preval, formerly allied with Lavalas.

A day later, thousands of supporters fended off National Police and UN troops, allowing the hunger strikers to escape.

Boycott leader Rene Civil extolled “the non-violent resistance of the Haitian people to undemocratic elections. There is no way they will be able to call senators elected in this process legitimate.
You cannot hold elections [without] the majority political party.”

A group called Popular Initiative protested Washington’s endorsement of the flawed election and called for removal of the U.S. ambassador.

A spokesperson rejected her notion of voter fatigue:
“Allow Fanmi Lavalas to participate and we'll show you the voters have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for an authentic democratic process.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Port au Prince three days before the voting was seen as highlighting U.S. complicity in the process.

Analyst Kevin Pina condemned Ambassador Sanderson, a Bush holdover, “for pressuring the Preval administration to issue arrest warrants for 42 of the organizers of the election boycott.” Over the radio Sanderson had demanded they be investigated.

Lavalas leader Ronald Fareau excoriated international donors: “They spent over $17 million on another electoral fraud in Haiti while our people continue to suffer from malnutrition and illiteracy.” In advance of the election the UN reported on the arrival in Haiti of 100 tons of election equipment, divided into 12,000 voting kits.

Popular Initiative and other groups allied to Lavalas announced at a press conference last week they would re-energize the campaign to return President Aristide from exile. They are pointing toward mass rallies in May and June that would also protest “growing misery and poverty.”

Rene Civil worried that without Lavalas in the Senate the Preval government would be able to force through privatization of the state-operated national telephone company and the National Port Authority. atwhit@roadrunner.com

fok nou konprann moun ki peye loyer ya se li ki met kay la.tou tan nap foure tet nou nan sab pou nou pa gade eta nou e byen yap toujou voye nou nan kwen al kriye tankou yon ti moun yo sot fout yon rakle.se konsa wi yo trete moun ki pa genyen kouraj pou yo defann konviktyon yo.

Malis,

Atik saa, se opinyon yon jounalis meriken.
Se pa ayisyen ki ap kriye.
Se yon analiz de sak ap pase lan peyi a.

Pa ekzanp:
“They spent over $17 million on another electoral fraud in Haiti while our people continue to suffer from malnutrition and illiteracy.”

Yo ta di san lan men w nèg lan pran fraz saa.

mwen konnen wi men se pou Rene Civil mwen fè komantè saa.pep la ba yo pouvwa an 2 fwa yo kite mèsenè pran l nan men yo epi apre yap kriye.si yon moun pa ka defann pouvwa ke pep la ba w an ayiti ou pa diy konfyans pep la.Point

It is true that " Off year-elections in the United States as well as in other countries tend not be as well-attended as presidential elections" But, let's remember that president Preval did not obey the Constitution by not holding the election to renew the Senate in a timely manner. Then again why should the haitian people vote for individuals who couldn't careless for their well-being? Madame ambassador, why not call a spade a spade? We, the taxpayers and the courageous people of Haiti, deserve better from the representative of the country that is the flagship of democratic values in the world. Many senators who are presently in office have demonstrated and used their political positions to rip-off the poor workers of this impoverished country.
However, the fact remains that "He who pays the piper calls the tune"
Regardless, the election had to be held. It's too bad that too many leaders of various political parties chose to participate in this charade. Unfortunately, it appears as if the present government is heading full speed ahead into the abyss.