A flawed election in the making (Haiti)

[IndianaGreen]

How interesting to read an article published just a few days before the Haiti earthquake.

A flawed election in the making

January 5, 2010

In the run-up to Haitian elections in February and March, the government of President René Préval has banned the Fanmi Lavalas Party, the country's largest political party, from the ballot. Lavalas was founded by Haiti's popular former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who lives in South Africa after being ousted by a right-wing coup in 2004.

Despite the likelihood of a fundamentally flawed election, a United Nations independent expert on human rights in Haiti has declared that the government had "good reasons" to exclude Lavalas. Here, we reprint a protest statement and call to action from the Canada Haiti Action Network.

THE CANADA Haiti Action Network expresses its grave concern at the November 26 decision by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil électoral provisoire--CEP) to exclude the Fanmi Lavalas Party from planned elections to take place on February 28, 2010. On that date, Haiti will hold elections for 98 of 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 10 seats of its 30-seat senate.

According to varying news reports, some 12 other political parties that had registered to participate in the election were ruled ineligible.

Thousands of Haitians staged a protest in the capital city of Port-au-Prince on December 16 against the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas. Dr. Maryse Narcisse of the party's executive council told the Reuters news network, "There will be no election in February, there will be a selection. What the authorities are planning is really a big farce."

More protests are promised by popular organizations, including the newly formed Assembly of Organizations for Change (Rassemblement des Organisations pour un Changement).

In justifying its decision, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) claimed that a registration mandate sent by Fanmi Lavalas leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, living in exile in South Africa, is not authentic. In fact, the party presented an original mandate authenticated by a Haitian notary that complies with Haitian law. Aristide sent a fax of the mandate directly to the CEP and confirmed its authenticity in a rare and lengthy interview on Port-au-Prince's Radio Solidarité.

One party approved by the CEP is the Front for National Reconstruction of the notorious paramilitary Guy Philippe. He stands indicted by a U.S. court in 2005 on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/05/flawed-election-in-the-making

[snot]

1. K&R'd

[Andronex]

2. K&R

[Vidar]

3. The rape of this impoverished, devastated country continues.