Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Haiti Panel Says Vote Irregularities Due to Incompetence
Source: Associated Press
Haiti Panel Says Vote Irregularities Due to Incompetence
By DAVID MCFADDEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jan 4, 2016, 5:04 PM ET
A commission that evaluated Haiti's contested presidential election said Monday that most of the irregularities it found in first-round voting were the result of widespread ineptitude by poll workers and not political mischief.
Commission member Rosny Desroches said only 8 percent of the tally sheets and other documents they examined from the Oct. 25 vote were free of irregularities. But the commission said that was not a sign of vote-rigging as the opposition asserts.
"Many of the irregularities that we have seen are due to lack of preparation, negligence, lack of competence, lack of professionalism," Desroches told The Associated Press following a news conference about the commission's findings.
According to Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise received nearly 33 percent of the votes cast Oct. 25 in a field of 54 people seeking the presidency. Official results say the agricultural entrepreneur, a political newcomer hand-picked by outgoing President Michel Martelly, had 117,602 more votes than second-place finisher Jude Celestin, a former state construction chief.
Celestin has rejected the results as a "ridiculous farce" amid the many fraud accusations that helped lead to the postponement of presidential and legislative runoffs initially scheduled for Dec. 27.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
By DAVID MCFADDEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jan 4, 2016, 5:04 PM ET
A commission that evaluated Haiti's contested presidential election said Monday that most of the irregularities it found in first-round voting were the result of widespread ineptitude by poll workers and not political mischief.
Commission member Rosny Desroches said only 8 percent of the tally sheets and other documents they examined from the Oct. 25 vote were free of irregularities. But the commission said that was not a sign of vote-rigging as the opposition asserts.
"Many of the irregularities that we have seen are due to lack of preparation, negligence, lack of competence, lack of professionalism," Desroches told The Associated Press following a news conference about the commission's findings.
According to Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise received nearly 33 percent of the votes cast Oct. 25 in a field of 54 people seeking the presidency. Official results say the agricultural entrepreneur, a political newcomer hand-picked by outgoing President Michel Martelly, had 117,602 more votes than second-place finisher Jude Celestin, a former state construction chief.
Celestin has rejected the results as a "ridiculous farce" amid the many fraud accusations that helped lead to the postponement of presidential and legislative runoffs initially scheduled for Dec. 27.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/haiti-panel-election-irregularities-due-incompetence-36084298