Dear all,
I hope we are not bombarding you with too much info on the Haitian
elections. It¹s obviously close to us and we want to keep people informed,
and possibly provide a perspective that you don¹t hear about on CBC or CNN.
So, I will continue to pass along these updates that are written by the
director of one of MCC¹s human rights partners her in Haiti.
For those who got this message via other means, I apologize for cross
posting.
Matt and Esther
MCC Haiti
Haiti Situation: Update # 2
Morning of 15 February 2006
The residents of Port-au-Prince woke up to barricade after barricade along
most roads throughout the city yesterday morning. Barricades of burnt out
cars, tires (some burning, some not), rocks, trees, and other debris made
for interesting obstacle courses for individuals trying to navigate the
roads in attempts to carry out their daily activities. By afternoon, most
of these barricades had been pushed aside, following a clear message from
presidential candidate René Preval for demonstrators to respect the rights
and property of others and to remove the barricades and road blocks. Some
demonstrations continued but traffic circulation was freely flowing. There
was hope for more calm and stability in the days to follow.
However, news reports showing stacks of electoral ballots found in a burning
garbage dump outside the city created a new wave of outcry on the part of
Haitian citizens, and demonstrations popped up around the city last night.
People are demanding an explanation.
Thus the city awoke again this morning to more barricades and road blocks in
some areas, most of which were easily crossed.
Last night, the CEP made an announcement that an investigation was to be
opened into the question of the discarded ballots. The CEP has also said
that MINUSTAH was initially responsible for the security of the electoral
material. It has been reported that following the 7 February election,
the private company ³Boucard Pest Control², contracted to collect trash and
discarded materials for the UN, began collecting trash from a variety of
locations across the city as requested by the UN. Some 20 garbage trucks are
said to have dropped off garbage, including but not exclusively, electoral
materials deemed as trash. According to the owner of Boucard Pest Control,
with whom I spoke earlier today, his employees just picked up the trash and
were unaware of the contents.
At this point it is difficult to make any concrete conclusions about the
electoral materials found at the dump. More than one possible explanation
exists. Firstly, it is possible that these ballots represent valid votes
that were cast on Election Day and then deliberately discarded so as to skew
the final outcome of the vote. Secondly, it is possible that the ballots
discarded at the dump were unused ballots, left over from Election Day. In
many voting offices, not all of the +/- 420 ballots issued were used on
voting day, as fewer people than registered came to vote in those centers.
These ballots found last night are said to have been signed by members of a
voting office. It is possible that many of the unused ballots had already
been signed during voting day but not used by the end of the day. At this
point, this is all speculation. RNDDH, accompanied by a member of the
Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organisations (POHDH), has sent a
delegation out this morning to the dumping area to investigate into this
latest development.
We will update you further as results of our investigation are analyzed.
It appears that for reasons of security, the final results as last
calculated are not being published. Following the meeting with Preval, CEP
officials, and government officials on Monday, the government has decided to
suspend the process and to form a commission to deal with questions of
contestation on the part of the Lespwa party. This would lead one to
believe that the final results as tabulated did not result in a clear-cut
victory for Lespwa and thus the reason for the contestation. However, no
official statement has been made in this regard. Herein lays one of the
problems and sources of frustration. Another potential for problems lays in
the possibility of other parties contesting their place in the final
results. For example, Chavannes Jeune (UNION) has claimed that according to
his calculations, he is in second place, not fourth. If there is no second
round, he will not contest. However, should it go to a second round, he
claims he will contest the initial results.
In terms of predictions concerning the level of violence, for now the
demonstrators are peaceful, despite being restless. However, I am of the
opinion that sooner or later the patience will run out and the frustration
will spill over into violent acts, whether isolated or widespread, that is
hard to predict. Much depends on how the CEP and/or the government respond
to the current allegations and to the overall situation. It was encouraging
yesterday to see PNH patrols accompanying the demonstrators as they headed
up to Pétion-Ville.
Some questions have been raised about the role of the UN (and perhaps also
the international community) in the electoral process. I think it would be
fair to say that 80% of the electoral process has been in the hands of the
UN (via UNDP and MINUSTAH) and the Organisation of American States (OAS).
All funding for the elections has been handled by these institutions,
including money from the Haitian government for the elections which had to
pass through the UN before being distributed to the CEP. All voter
registration lists were prepared by the UN/OAS, and the placement of voting
centers was determined by these institutions. (In the past, the system of
voting centers was not used, but rather a system involving a greater
distribution of voting offices. This newly introduced system clearly had
its drawbacks, but also its advantages, too.) The UN/OAS was responsible
for the distribution of electoral materials to the individual voting
centers, as well as collecting the materials/ballots and delivering them to
the CEP tabulation center at the completion of the voting process. Finally,
the UN/OAS was responsible for securing electoral material in secure storage
containers, designed for this purpose.
Again, we will try and keep you updated as information is obtained.
Pierre Esperance
Executive Director, RNDDH
*********************************************************
Kristie van de Wetering
Human Rights Program Officer
Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
9, Rue Rivière
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Tel: 509.245.3486 / 245.5821 / 244.1495
Fax: 509.244.4146
Email: kvwetering@rnddh.org
kotchka19@hotmail.com
www.rnddh.org <http://www.rnddh.org>
>
>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 1:12 PM
>
> Subject: Update on Situation in Haiti - 14 February 2006
>
>
>
>
>
> Update on Current Events in Haiti
>
> 14 February 2006
>
>
>
> I am pretty confident that some of the events taking place in Haiti right now
> are making the international news, and so I am sure that many of you are
> aware that the situation is quite tense and precarious at the moment.
>
>
>
> As of this morning, the CEP has yet to announce any final results.
> Initially, the CEP had announced that the final results would be announced 3
> days following the elections. However, the last CEP announcement of partial
> elections results was Saturday, 11 February, during which time a press
> release was also published announcing that the final results would be
> announced Sunday, 12 February in the evening. Since that last press
> conference on Saturday afternoon, there have been no statements from the CEP
> at all (perhaps except for the occasional posting of an update on the CEP
> website www.cep-ht.org <http://www.cep-ht.org> ).
>
>
>
> The initial decision was made to publish partial results as they were
> calculated. As such, initial results reported that former president René
> Preval, party Espwa (translated as Hope), was in considerable lead with more
> than 60% of the vote as counted at the time. That lead began to decrease as
> the results from other voting centers across the country were submitted and
> calculated. As of Saturday, that lead remained just over 50%; however, it
> slipped just under that mark to just over 49% according to the partial
> results published on Sunday (on the internet), and now to just over 48% as
> of Monday morning.
>
>
>
> There remains a significant gap between Preval and the candidate next in
> line, namely former president Leslie Manigat, who for most of the partial
> results published has hovered around 11%.
>
>
>
> According to the electoral law, a presidential candidate must receive 50%
> plus 1 of the votes in order to win the election in one round. Should
> he/she not achieve this, a second round must be held with the two candidates
> receiving the most votes. The CEP has a responsibility to apply the
> electoral law.
>
>
>
> Preval supporters have poured out into the streets in huge numbers to demand
> the final results and to celebrate Preval¹s electoral victory as the new
> president of Haiti. Protestors in support of Preval are saying that they
> will refuse to accept a second round, a run-off, for the presidential
> elections; that they have already voted and Preval has won. Large
> demonstrations, accompanied by numerous large road blocks consisting of
> burning tires, rocks, burnt out cars and other debris, were observed across
> the city on major as well as smaller roads, and making movement throughout the
> city difficult at best. A large group of demonstrators managed to push their
> way into the court yard and exterior grounds of the Hotel Montana in
> Petion-Ville, making their way into the reception area, pool and
> restaurant/dining area. There was a distinct and noticeable lack of Haitian
> police and/or UN presence in the streets yesterday, and again this morning as
> barricades were set up again in several neighbourhoods with crowds
> assembling. Demonstrations and road blocks have been reported in other areas
> of the country such as Jacmel and various towns in the Artibonite Valley.
>
>
>
> For the most part the demonstrators have been peaceful and little violence
> and/or vandalism has been reported, with the exception of an incident
> reported in the northeastern part of the city (Tabarre) where at least one
> Preval supporter was shot and killed yesterday morning, several others
> injured. What exactly happened is unclear at this time. Witnesses claim that
> a UN patrol shot at the demonstrators; however the spokesperson for the UN
> claimed that the UN patrol shot a couple of rounds in the air in order to
> take control of the situation after which several shots were fired in the
> area by unidentified individuals.
>
>
>
> Without the publication of the final results, it is difficult to know how
> things will evolve from here on. Should Preval not win the majority and a
> second round is announced, the tension and potential for widespread chaos and
> violence will necessarily escalate to what degree and level it is hard to
> predict. One potential solution in the event that Preval does not win a
> majority is for the candidate in the second place position, in this case
> Manigat, along with the cooperation of the other presidential candidates in
> the top 9 places, to make a decision to concede the vote and to give the
> election to Preval. This is an acceptable solution and one that was recently
> used in the Dominican Republic where the margin between the first and
> second place candidates was must less than the margin between Preval and
> Manigat. At this point, we do not know if this option is even being
> considered by the parties in question.
>
>
>
> We do know that yesterday Preval met with members of the current transitional
> government, members of the CEP and the international community at the
> National Palace. Details of that meeting have not been released. Earlier
> this afternoon, Preval held a press conference at his residence in
> Port-au-Prince where he addressed the current situation. In summary, Preval
> denounced the manner in which people have been demonstrating a manner which
> he believes serves to isolate the Espwa party on a national and international
> level. He supported one¹s right to demonstrate but asked that people
> demonstrate intelligently, in the spirit of peace and reconciliation. He
> called on his supporters to respect the rights of others, to respect their
> property and possessions and to remove the barricades so as to enable people
> to go to work and provide for their families. Preval also talked of
> isolating those who do not support him and/or his party, saying that there
> will always be people that will never convert over to the Espwa party.
>
>
>
> For RNDDH, the statement was a welcomed and much needed one. The only point
> of concern was the concept of isolating your enemies, with is open to much
> interpretation.
>
>
>
> RNDDH is extremely concerned with the potential for widespread violence in
> the coming days, especially given the PNH and UN¹s apparent decision to stay
> off the streets. The population¹s safety both that of the demonstrators
> and innocent bystanders is compromised when security forces are not
> sufficiently present in situations such as we are seeing now.
>
>
>
> At this point, RNDDH is of the belief that Preval will win the presidential
> election, even if it goes to a second round. At least 7 of the other
> presidential candidates, including Evans Paul, Chavannes Jeune, and Dany
> Toussaint, have publicly stated that they concede that the mass population has
> voted for Preval and that they are in agreement on bypassing a second round.
> With the country already divided, RNDDH is of the opinion that a second round
> would only serve to further divide the country and create additional
> problems.
>
>
>
> In terms of the RNDDH office, we are continuing to operate as usual, with
> more flexible hours for the staff as many have had difficulty arriving at the
> office and/or returning home, yesterday in particular. The office will
> remain open as RNDDH must be available to monitor the situation and receive
> accounts and reports of any human rights violations taking place.
>
>
>
> We will do our best to keep you updated on the situation here, but please do
> not hesitate to write if you have specific questions or concerns.
>
>
>
> Most kind regards,
>
> Pierre Esperance
>
>
>
>
>
> *********************************************************
> Kristie van de Wetering
> Human Rights Program Officer
>
>
>
> Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
> 9, Rue Rivière
> Port-au-Prince, Haiti
> Tel: 509.245.3486 / 245.5821 / 244.1495
> Fax: 509.244.4146
> Email: kvwetering@rnddh.org
> kotchka19@hotmail.com
> www.rnddh.org <http://www.rnddh.org>
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