Recount and Review of Haiti’s Election Tally Shows Massive Irregularities:Election Outcome In Doubt

[Judi Lynn]

December 30, 2010
2:09 PM
Recount and Review of Haiti’s Election Tally Shows Massive Irregularities
Election Outcome In Doubt

WASHINGTON - December 30 - An independent recount and review of 11,171 tally sheets from Haiti’s November 28 election shows that the outcome of the election is indeterminate. The review, conducted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), found massive irregularities and errors in the tally. A report detailing the recount’s findings, and methodology, will be made available next week.

“With so many irregularities, errors, and fraudulent vote totals, it is impossible to say what the results of this election really are,” said Mark Weisbrot, economist and CEPR Co-Director.

“If the Organization of American States certifies this election, this would be a political decision, having nothing to do with election monitoring,” said Weisbrot. “They would lose all credibility as a neutral election-monitoring organization.”

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/12/30-0

[Bacchus39]

1. what a surprise n/t

s

[EFerrari]

2. I wonder if magbana is following this. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. Here's something she wrote on December 15:

US Will Pay for Haitian Vote Fraud
Posted on December 15, 2010 by magbana

US will pay for Haitian vote fraud

THE DECISION last Thursday to recount the votes in Haiti’s disputed elections is like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. As this week’s continued protests demonstrate, it will not avoid the catastrophe. Resolving Haiti’s election woes requires the financial backers of the flawed election process — especially the United States — to reverse course and insist on new, inclusive elections run by a new, inclusive electoral council.

Haitian voters see the fraud and disorganization of the Nov. 28 election as part of a long campaign to reduce competition to President René Préval’s INITE party in both presidential and legislative elections. The Provisional Electoral Council, which ran the election, was hand-picked by Préval, and excluded 15 political parties from the legislative elections, including Haiti’s most popular, Fanmi Lavalas, whose leader, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, remains in forced exile. The electoral council also excluded 15 candidates from the presidential race without issuing a comprehensive explanation. During the months preceding the elections, Haitians complained about the voter registration program. In the end, over 100,000 voters who had registered did not receive their voting cards. More than 75 percent of voters with cards stayed home on election day.

The current crisis was widely predicted. In October, 45 members of the US House of Representatives warned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that US support for flawed elections “will come back to haunt the international community’’ by generating unrest and threatening the implementation of earthquake reconstruction projects. According to a cable released by WikiLeaks, even the US ambassador to Haiti described Préval as “orchestrating’’ the election to choose his successor. The Obama administration, along with the United Nations and other allies, dismissed these warnings and the mounting evidence of unfairness, and invested their prestige, influence, and $30 million in the elections. As the WikiLeaks cable explained, US officials held their noses and supported Préval because they believed he was “indispensable’’ to Haiti and a good ally to the United States.

If the results from the election stand, the protests may be just the beginning. No matter who emerges victorious from the counting and negotiating, Haiti will be saddled with a president and Parliament chosen by a restricted group of voters from a restricted list of candidates.

More:
http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/us-will-pay-for-haitian-vote-fraud/


Glad you mentioned magbana. Bet she's been busy 24/7 so long.....