Haiti: Nearly two months after vote, Haiti elections still in dispute | Miami Herald

The ink on his thumbnail was supposed to be a fraud-proof deterrent, a sign that he had already voted in Haiti’s critical presidential and legislative elections. But hours after the adviser to Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council cast his ballot in the now disputed Oct. 25 vote, the indelible ink stain was barely visible, more resembling a fading birthmark than an electoral safeguard. Nearly two months after the pivotal balloting and three weeks before the scheduled Dec. 27 presidential runoff, Haiti remains at an impasse. Allegations of ballot tampering, fraudulent tabulations and widespread procedural breakdowns — such as failing ink that led to multiple voting — have fanned a widening chorus of doubt about the credibility of the results.

Haiti: Many in Haiti Expect to Sit out Presidential Runoff Election | Associated Press

Protesters have streamed into the capital’s streets in recent weeks in sometimes violent rallies to back opposition demands for an independent recount of the first round of Haiti’s presidential vote and immediate changes to an electoral council. That fervor isn’t shared by many in this impoverished country, however, and analysts worry widespread voter apathy is threatening the latest attempt to shore up Haiti’s fragile democracy. The malaise during this year’s three-round electoral cycle is occurring while nearly all public offices are up for grabs. Food vendor Minouche Jean didn’t vote in the first round of the presidential election in late October and won’t cast a ballot in the runoff that is scheduled for Dec. 27. She has no interest in a process that seems to matter so little in her daily life.

Haiti: Concerns widen over Haiti presidential elections impasse | Miami Herald

Concerns over Haiti’s disputed presidential elections widened Monday when Catholic bishops and a group of pastors joined an alliance of opposition presidential candidates in demanding an inquiry into the vote. The alliance of eight candidates, led by second-place finisher Jude Célestin and dubbed the G8, reiterated its demand for an independent commission to verify the Oct. 25 presidential vote amid allegations the balloting was tainted by “massive” fraud and irregularities on behalf of frontrunner Jovenel Moise, the government-backed candidate, and his party. The group in a signed communique issued late Sunday also is demanding sweeping changes in the police hierarchy and electoral system ahead of next month’s planned presidential runoff. Should those changes not occur, they said, they will be left with no other choice but to force a transition government to oversee new elections in Haiti.

Haiti: U.S. observers: Haiti’s presidential elections deeply flawed | Miami Herald

A team of U.S.-based lawyers who witnessed last month’s Haitian elections say there is mounting evidence showing a clear pattern of systemic fraud, voter confusion and intimidation, and in some areas disenfranchisement. The report paints a grim picture of a flawed, chaotic electoral process on Oct. 25. Not only were voting procedures inconsistently applied at poorly designed polling stations, the report notes, but the widespread use of observer and political party accreditation led to people voting multiple times and potentially accounts for as much as 60 percent of the 1.5 million votes cast. “Without major corrective measures, these elections will represent a significant setback in Haiti’s long-struggle to consolidate democracy,” said the report based on the observations of a delegation of election monitors from the National Lawyers Guild and International Association of Democratic Lawyers Delegation.

Haiti: Presidential runoff announcement spurs violent protest | Miami Herald

Government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise will face Jude Célestin, the former head of the state construction company, in a Dec. 27 presidential runoff, the head of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council declared Tuesday during an announcement of the official results of last month’s first round presidential vote. Pierre-Louis Opont made the announcement hours after the National Offices of Electoral Litigation (BCEN) rejected the demands of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas opposition party to eject Moise from the race because of “massive fraud” during the Oct. 25 first round balloting. The five-judge panel did, however, order that 50 problematic and fraudulent tally sheets from polling stations across Haiti be removed from the final results. While the modification slightly changed the final percentage of votes Moise with 32.76 percent to Célestin’s received, it didn’t change their preliminary finish, Opont said. In reaction, partisans of opposition candidates accusing Moise and Martelly of orchestrating fraud — accusations Moise and his PHTK party have denied — took to the streets setting tires ablaze in planned protests. Radio reported that at least five people were injured, including two Haiti National Police officers by bullets.

Haiti: Protest against Haiti election turns violent; 1 dead | Jamaica Observer

At least one person was killed and several others wounded as opposition supporters staged violent protests in the capital against the preliminary results of the October 25 legislative and first round presidential elections, police and opposition party officials said. They said that the protesters erected barricades, burning tyres as they took to the streets demanding a recall of the election results. Police said one man was shot during the protest over the weekend that also saw police using tear gas and fired gunshots to disperse the crowd. A spokesman for the Pitit Dessalines party, whose presidential candidate, Moise Jean-Charles, came third in the first round, has blamed the authorities for the incident.

Haiti: Elections officials refuse vote verification | Miami Herald

Haitian elections officials are rejecting requests to form an independent commission to verify the preliminary presidential election results, saying the law doesn’t grant them the authority to do so. The decision by the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council came after a meeting with eight presidential candidates Monday night and amid growing calls to put confidence in the electoral process. The candidates, including second-place finisher Jude Célestin, have rejected the results on the grounds that the vote was marred by “massive fraud” with ballot stuffing and political party monitors voting multiple times. The CEP’s position stands to deepen an ongoing electoral impasse while further casting doubt over the Dec. 27 runoff.

Haiti: Two presidential candidates injured in protest, a third threatened with arrest | Miami Herald

Two presidential candidates are accusing Haitian police of firing on them during a Wednesday protest against alleged fraud in Haiti’s recent presidential election while a third says he and his supporters were threatened with arrest. Sen. Steven Benoit and former Sen. Moise Jean-Charles say they were injured when police fired tear gas and shots to disperse protesters during what was the largest protest since the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced the preliminary results of the Oct. 25 presidential elections. “The police shot at us point blank,” Benoit said. “There were lots of people and when we got in front of the CEP, they targeted us. It was not an accident.”

Haiti: Low Turnout Reflects Lack Of Hope For Change – Analysis | Eurasia Review

Presidential elections should be an opportunity for ordinary citizens to have a say in the future of their country. The period before an election is a time for citizens to hear what presidential candidates have planned for their country and to decide which of them represents his or her best interests. In Haiti, presidential elections represent for some a chance to run for office and therefore the opportunity to get a secure job; yet, for many Haitians the elections represent nothing, because they feel that nothing will change. In fact, Haitians participating in the first voting round of the parliamentary elections comprise only 18 percent of the registered voters while 54 candidates ran for President. This article aims to explain such low political participation and analyzes the reasons why Haitians have little trust in the democratic process.

Haiti: Thousands protest in Haiti over ‘electoral coup’ | AFP

Thousands of people aligned with the political opposition demonstrated in the Haitian capital on Wednesday against President Michel Martelly, accusing him of orchestrating an “electoral coup d’etat.” The protest comes after seven presidential candidates called Monday for an independent investigation of initial vote results that determined Jovenel Moise, backed by Martelly, drew 32 percent of the ballots on October 25. Moise will go into a runoff on December 27 against Jude Celestin, of the Lapeh party, who garnered 25 percent of the vote. The election is the latest attempt in the Americas’ poorest country to shed chronic political instability and work toward development.

Haiti: Preliminary results issued in parliament vote | Miami Herald

A banned singer whose government bashing lyrics have became part of the political discourse is among Haiti’s newest senators, while an indicted former coup leader is headed into a runoff, according to preliminary election results issued Sunday by the Provisional Electoral Council. Antonio Cheramy, known as “Don Kato,” was elected with 297,260 votes in the Oct. 25 legislative runoff elections to represent the country’s most populous region, the West Department that includes metropolitan Port-au-Prince. The vote total, posted on the council’s website after midnight Sunday, is more than what 52 of the 54 presidential candidates received during balloting held on the same day, according to preliminary presidential results issued Thursday. “The battle I was carrying out reached the population,” said Cheramy, 40. “These results are incontestable and show that the population voted me.”

Haiti: Government candidate advances to presidential runoff | Reuters

Ruling party candidate Jovenel Moïse and former government executive Jude Célestin led voting in Haiti’s Oct. 25 presidential election and will face each other in a run-off next month, according to official results announced on Thursday. The winner will succeed President Michel Martelly next February at the head of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. Moïse, representing the…

Haiti: Haiti election results a distant reality | South Florida Times

Haiti’s voters have spoken. But nobody’s quite sure what they’ve said. Even tentative results of Sunday’s presidential election likely won’t be known for at least 10 days, despite the fact that the election, which involved 54 presidential candidates and tens of thousands of contenders for other races, went unusually smoothly. Few places in the world take longer to give citizens any hint of who won an election. One reason is that it’s against the law for results to be released by anyone other than the Provisional Electoral Council, whose members are replaced every election cycle. “A lot of the learning that is accrued every time they go through an election process seems to be lost,” said Kenneth Merten, Haiti special coordinator for the U.S. State Department and a former U.S. ambassador to the country.

Haiti: Haiti faces long wait for results of presidential election | Associated Press

Haiti’s voters have spoken. But nobody’s quite sure what they’ve said. Even tentative results of Sunday’s presidential election likely won’t be known for at least 10 days, despite the fact that the election, which involved 54 presidential candidates and tens of thousands of contenders for other races, went unusually smoothly. Few places in the world take longer to give citizens any hint of who won an election. One reason is that it’s against the law for results to be released by anyone other than the Provisional Electoral Council, whose members are replaced every election cycle. “A lot of the learning that is accrued every time they go through an election process seems to be lost,” said Kenneth Merten, Haiti special coordinator for the U.S. State Department and a former U.S. ambassador to the country.

Haiti: Haiti elects a president – but nobody knows for sure who voters chose | The Guardian

Haiti’s voters have spoken. But nobody’s quite sure what they’ve said. Even tentative results of Sunday’s presidential election likely won’t be known for at least 10 days, despite the election, which involved 54 presidential candidates and tens of thousands of contenders for other races, going unusually smoothly. Few places in the world take longer to give citizens any hint of who won an election. One reason is that it’s against the law for results to be released by anyone other than the Provisional Electoral Council, whose members are replaced every election cycle. “A lot of the learning that is accrued every time they go through an election process seems to be lost,” said Kenneth Merten, Haiti special coordinator for the US State Department and a former US ambassador to the country.

Haiti: Haiti faces long wait for results of presidential election | Associated Press

Voting appeared orderly and largely peaceful in presidential and parliamentary elections that Haitians hope will help consolidate democracy in this impoverished country with a history of political turbulence. Fears that Sunday’s voting would be a repeat of the problem-plagued first-round of legislative elections proved unfounded, human rights observers said. Celso Amorim, chief of the Organization of American States’ 125-member observer mission, said Haiti appeared to be “moving in the right direction.” Haitians faced lengthy ballots featuring 54 presidential hopefuls and a slew of legislative and municipal candidates. Electoral officials said there might be partial results in 10 days but final results would not be ready until late November.

Haiti: Small-scale election economy in full swing | Associated Press

A young man stands on a busy street corner in the Haitian capital wearing the campaign logo of one presidential candidate on his sweat-soaked T-shirt, the name of another emblazoned on his sunglasses while he passes out flyers on behalf of a third. Jeanty Masier makes no pretense of actually caring about any of the candidates competing in Sunday’s first round of presidential elections, but he’s happy to support any of them — for a price. “I don’t know much about these political people. But they promised to pay me something, so I’m trying to do some work,” said Masier, a struggling 24-year-old resident of a hillside slum overlooking downtown Port-au-Prince, where the presidential palace stood until it pancaked in a devastating 2010 quake.

Haiti: Voters grapple with packed field for presidency | Associated Press

Cities and towns across Haiti are plastered with colorful campaign ads, leaving voters struggling to differentiate a swarm of candidates who grin from posters, banners and billboards slapped on nearly everything that doesn’t move and a few that do. Practically every public office is up for grabs in this year’s unprecedented three-round balloting that is picking the next president, two-thirds of the Senate, the entire 119-member Chamber of Deputies and all local offices. Even by Haiti’s rough-and-tumble standards, the parade of office-seekers and unpredictability of the elections is dizzying for many.

Haiti: Leading political party pulls out of Haiti’s legislative elections | Reuters

A leading political party in Haiti announced on Tuesday that it was pulling out of next month’s legislative elections, saying it was the primary victim of violence during the first round of voting in August. It was not immediately clear whether the pullout would disrupt the second-round runoff on Oct. 25, when Haitians are also due to cast ballots for a new president. But the move was seen as another setback for stability in the impoverished Caribbean country, long rocked by political turmoil. The Vérité (Truth) Party, which announced its boycott of the upcoming poll, is widely seen as a leading political threat to President Michel Martelly’s Haitian Tet Kale (Bald Headed) Party, which takes its name from Martelly’s trademark shaved scalp.

Haiti: 2 more candidates disqualified for election disruptions | Associated Press

Haitian election authorities on Wednesday disqualified two more candidates for disruptions during legislative elections earlier this month, bringing the total of barred candidates to 16 so far. Voters in the Aug. 9 elections were filling two-thirds of the 30-member Senate and the entire 119-member Chamber of Deputies. Results have not been announced yet. Earlier this week, the Provisional Electoral Council said it disqualified 14 candidates for involvement in various violent disturbances at polling stations.

Haiti: 14 candidates scratched over election violence | AFP

Fourteen candidates who ran in Haiti’s first-round legislative elections have been disqualified over their suspected involvement in crime and violence that marred polling, election officials said Tuesday. Two people were killed during the long-delayed August 9 elections and sporadic violence forced dozens of voting centers to close in the first voting since 2011 in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas. The candidates stand accused of various crimes, including firing an automatic weapon near a polling station, ransacking voting centers, voting violations, removal of ballot boxes and armed aggression against an election officer, Haiti’s provisional electoral council (CEP) said in a statement.

Haiti: Observers criticize unruly Haiti elections | AFP

International observers and Haitian human rights groups on Tuesday sharply criticized the country’s violence-marred legislative elections as poorly policed and organized. At least two people were killed during voting Sunday that was disrupted by attacks and other problems that forced the early closure of at least 26 polling centers. Pierre Esperance, executive director of a national network of human rights groups, said the disruptions were a blow to democracy in the impoverished Caribbean nation. “The rights of the Haitian people have been trampled,” he said. The elections, which were four-and-a-half years overdue in a country still struggling from the effects of a devastating 2010 earthquake, were to choose the Chamber of Deputies and two thirds of the Senate.

Haiti: OAS: Irregularities did not disrupt overall Haiti elections | Associated Press

An international mission that monitored legislative elections in Haiti said Monday that there were scattered problems with violence and other disruptions during Sunday’s first round but not enough to disrupt the legitimacy of the overall vote. The Organization of American States had 28 observers monitoring Sunday elections that saw Haitians choose lawmakers for the next Parliament in a contest that was delayed for nearly four years. They visited 171 of more than 1,500 voting centers across the country of 10 million people.

Haiti: Two dead in Haiti election violence: parties | AFP

Two people were killed during Haiti’s long-delayed legislative elections, political parties said Monday, amid violence that forced some polling stations to close early. The elections, held on Sunday after a four-year delay, were meant to be a stride toward restoring consitutional order in the destitute Caribbean country. Turnout was reported to be low. Several Port-au-Prince polling stations were vandalized in the morning and 26 shut down early because of violence.

Haiti: First election in four years marred by sporadic violence | Reuters

Haitians voted Sunday for the first time in four years in a test of stability for an impoverished country continually rocked by political turmoil. Men armed with rocks and bottles attacked polling stations in the capital of Port-au-Prince and two dozen voting centers around the country were forced to close due to violence, according to officials. Voting was extended two hours at some polling stations that opened late or were forced to suspend voting. The Caribbean nation of about 10 million people has struggled to build a stable democracy ever since the overthrow of the dictatorship of the Duvalier family, which led Haiti from 1957 to 1986, and ensuing military coups and election fraud. The country was also devastated by an earthquake in 2010 that flattened large parts of the capital, including the presidential palace, killings tens of thousands of people.

Haiti: Despite indifference, Haiti heads toward election day | Zee News

After a nearly four years of delays, legislative elections will take place Sunday in Haiti, but voters hardly seem to care. Portraits of candidates and posters in their parties` colors have finally invaded the public space. But, in front of an electrical pole plastered with photos of various candidates for Haiti`s Senate and Chamber of Deputies, Luckson is completely indifferent. “Him I know, but he won`t do anything for me. Her, I`ve never seen her face before,” the shoeshiner says while surveying the posters that now adorn his corner. For a brief moment, the nearby vendors and their clients discuss the candidates and argue about the backgrounds of these would-be parliamentarians. They all agree on one point: they will not vote Sunday “because there`s no point.”

Haiti: Election violence hits Haiti ahead of August 9 poll | Jamaica Observer

With just a few days before Haitians go to the polls to elect a new parliament, there are reports of violence, the withdrawal of candidates and the National Identification Office (ONI) reminding citizens to ensure that they collect their documents ahead of the August 9 poll. Over the weekend, Germain Fils Alexandre, who is contesting the position of deputy of Petit-Goâve under the VERITE banner, said he and his team were attacked, and accused his opponent, Jacques Stevenson Thimoléon, from the PHTK Party, of organising the violence. He said he was campaigning in Allègue, a locality in the 10th section of Palmes, when “my team and I were attacked by Thimoléon and its supporters on the road of Palmes”. He said his vehicles were stoned and damaged and some supporters were also injured.

Haiti: Dissing The Diaspora: Why Can’t Haitian Expats Vote In Haitian Elections This Sunday? | WLRN

Five years ago today, Wyclef Jean – the Haitian-American hip-hop superstar whose 2004 hit song mused, “If I was President” – revealed in an interview with me that he was actually running for President. Of Haiti. Whether Jean would have been a good pwezidan is certainly debatable. But what made his candidacy most significant – especially in the wake of Haiti’s catastrophic 2010 earthquake – was the prospect of finally seeing a real bridge built between Haiti and its large diaspora. “I’m the only man who can stand in the middle and get the diaspora and Haiti’s elite families to cooperate,” Jean told me. And yet Haiti’s elite families hardly seemed ready to welcome Jean into the presidential palace. Three weeks after he entered the 2010 presidential race, Haiti’s election commission disqualified him because it said he didn’t meet constitutional residency requirements. This despite the fact that Jean was born in Haiti and hadn’t ditched his Haitian citizenship. As a result, many Haitian-Americans said his ejection was typical of how Haiti treats the Haitian diaspora.

Haiti: Avoiding a Democratic Disaster in Haiti | Foreign Policy

With no natural disasters or political violence afflicting Haiti for the past several years, it would be easy to assume that the country has finally achieved the level of relative stability that international donors and millions of Haitians have sought since the toppling of the Duvalier dynasty in 1986. Yet this perceived calm is belied by troubling signs that all is not well, as Haiti prepares for the first of up to three rounds of contentious elections. On July 15, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, chaired by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), held a hearing on the run-up to the elections, with the State Department’s point man on Haiti, Thomas Adams. Adams admitted the elections were significantly underfunded. That made his rather sanguine attitude towards the whole process all the more surprising. With the first round of elections scheduled for August 9, he suggested that there is a “fairly good chance” they will go on as scheduled. But even as the Obama administration and the donor community focus primarily on the mechanics — voter education and registration, security, integrity of vote-counting — they are skirting important questions about just how free and fair the contest will actually be.

Haiti: Haiti pleads for international help on elections | Miami Herald

Haiti’s prime minister and elections council president sought to reassure the international community Thursday that all was on track for the country’s most complex election process in history. “We’ve already started the process, and progress is visible,” Pierre-Louis Opont, president of the Provisional Electoral Council, known as the CEP, told Haiti’s international partners in New York during a United Nations donors conference. The country was seeking $31 million to cover election costs. At the meeting, Brazil, Canada, Norway and the United States promised to provide additional funding, the spokesman for the U.N. Secretary General said. It was unclear Thursday how much. An effusive Opont told donors that political parties, civil society and voters had confidence in the elections council, adding that “we have headed off skeptics.”