The Guardian 22 February, 2006
Haiti — democracy defiant
Jules Andrews
After a week of contradictory results, burning ballot papers and mounting domestic tension René Préval was finally declared the outright winner of the Haitian Presidential elections. Préval is an ally of Jean Bertrand Aristide, and preceded him as President from 1996-2001.
The CEP (the Provisional Electoral Council), the body in charge of the elections, declared on February 15 that Préval of the Lespwa (Hope) Coalition had won 51.15 percent of the votes.
The CEP reached the declaration after a decision was made by a majority of seven of its nine members to overturn electoral law and discount the astonishing 85,000 blank ballot papers that had turned up in ballot boxes across the country.
The February 7 election had already been highly criticised by local and international observers.
Early in the count official results showed Mr Préval with 60 percent of the vote, a figure which dropped dramatically over the following week to the CEP Director-General’s final declaration of 48.76 percent for Préval. This would have necessitated a run-off election between Mr Préval and second place-getter Leslie Manigat, who scored less than 12 percent.
However, two members of the CEP disputed the official tally. One complained that the Director General had released election results without notifying other members of the body and without disclosing the sources of his information.
Pierre Richard Duchemin, Director of the CEP’s vote tabulation centre, told Reuters, "There is an unwholesome manipulation of the data", he said. "Nothing is transparent." He called for an investigation.
Several other presidential candidates declared that Préval had won the first round of elections. "Christian values prevent me from going along with the dirty tricks and manipulations committed in the counting of votes", said Pastor Chavannes Jeune, who came in fourth.
Meanwhile, international observers estimated that up to eight percent of the ballot papers had gone missing. Thousands of ballots in favour of Préval were found in a garbage dump in the capital Port-au-Prince and a mound of burning ballots was found in another.
Yet it was not just in the vote count that the actions of the CEP were suspect.
There were no polling stations at all in Cité Soleil, a district of the capital with 500,000 residents and a stronghold of supporters of ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Voters were forced to walk over five kilometres to a polling station and often upon arrival their names were not on the voter list. In other poor neighbourhoods, such as Grand Ravine and Bel Air, polling stations opened two to four hours late.
In contrast, voters in wealthy neighbourhoods had no problem casting their ballots.
Two years of brutality
The elections are being held two years after a US-orchestrated, and Canadian and French-backed rebellion overthrew the democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Mr Aristide claims that during the coup he was abducted by US forces and private mercenaries and flown to the Central African Republic. He has since been living in temporary exile in South Africa.
Within 48 hours of the new Government calling for UN "peacekeepers" thousands of US, Canadian and French troops landed in Haiti. These troops actively engaged in armed conflict against supporters of the ousted President, and perpetrated numerous human rights abuses.
The US Government has remained largely silent on the current elections — with neither the President nor Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice making official comment. This appears in stark contrast to their outpouring of enthusiasm for the interim government and the "restoration of democracy" which was made after the democratically-elected President Aristide was overthrown.
However, the US Government’s lack of response on the election outcome can only be "silent fury" rather than disinterest.
In response to a press question in January on the upcoming elections in Haiti, Ms Rice’s department provided this insight: "We have provided $30 million to support the electoral process, including support to the Provisional Electoral Council and international/domestic observers. We also strengthen political parties’ role in the democratic process by funding political party logistical centers."
Mr Préval has said he will allow Aristide to return to Haiti, in defiance of the Bush Government. The US Ambassador to Haiti has previously warned Mr Aristide to stay "at least 150 Miles away from Haiti at all times", and Ms Rice has declared she does not want him "in the Western Hemisphere".
Acknowledgement to People’s Weekly World