This week in HaitiHaïti Progrès
November 22 - 28 2000
Haiti's elections accosted
and precarious, but on track
Despite violence and political machinations aimed at derailing them, presidential and senatorial elections scheduled for Nov. 26 now seem a sure thing. The Haitian government and the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) have resolved to forge ahead with the contest in defiance of a political boycott from the so-called Democratic Convergence, a tiny herd of tiny opposition parties, and a financial boycott from the usual European and North American election funding donors.
"The Haitian people are going to come to a decision on Nov. 26 about whom it wants to lead the country and at the same time to choose nine new senators," said Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis. "I think that this will happen no matter what."
Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide faces only three little-known challengers in the presidential race, since three other candidates pulled out at the last minute. The CEP says, however, that ballots will have the name of all seven original presidential aspirants.
Aristide's Lavalas Family party (FL) is also heavily favored in the elections for one-third of the Senate's seats. The FL swept all but one of the other Senate seats in May 21 elections.
However, violence looms. On Nov. 10, small bombs and grenades exploded at three electoral offices in the capital as well as the CEP headquarters. Ben Dupuy, the co-director of Haïti Progrès and secretary general of the National Popular Party (PPN), an FL ally, received a written death threat on Nov. 6 suggesting that he would share "the fate of Jean Dominique," the celebrated radio journalist gunned down on Apr. 3. "Soon your name will be added to the list of victims," the death threat read.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 3, gunmen in a car machine-gunned a crowd near the old military airport, killing seven and wounding many more. Similar drive-by gunfire, largely victimless, has been reported to be happening almost daily around Port-au-Prince over the past week. In general, the "insecurity," as Haitians call the crimes carried out by shadowy armed bands, has worsened dramatically.
"The forces of darkness, the Macoutes, as well as their allies in the opposition, clearly want to wreak havoc, since they have said so publicly and otherwise," said Dupuy in a recent radio interview. "We think that the people should have the opportunity to have their say. [The opposition politicians] don't believe that the people should decide political matters. For them, the people are there only to make noise while they go behind their curtains to make deals the way they have always made them." Dupuy also urged Haitian authorities to take serious measures to counter the threats of terrorist attacks on election day.
The U.S. State Department is clearly expecting the worse and has advised the evacuation of U.S. government personnel's families from Haiti. In a Nov. 17 advisory, the State Department "warns U.S. citizens against travel to Haiti due to the unstable security situation throughout the country" with particular emphasis that "American citizens are warned to avoid political gatherings and demonstrations." The alarmist advisory also complains that "the dialogue of some candidates and government officials has been distinctly anti-American, and the Haitian government has failed to contain or condemn certain violent and dangerous incidents. Such incidences have included anti-foreigner rhetoric, politically motivated killings, indiscriminate gunfire directed at pedestrians in Port-au-Prince, and incidents directed at diplomatic facilities and vehicles."
Meanwhile, election preparations are in their final phase. Although most voters will use their electoral cards from last May's contest, the registration of those who have since achieved voting age and of those who have lost their electoral cards has ended at the 1595 electoral offices established in the country's 11 electoral departments.
Mild support for the elections came from an unexpected quarter of the international community last week. The Vatican's ambassador to Haiti, Monseignor Luigi Bonazzi, declared that the elections represent an important step towards the resolution of the country's political crisis: "I cannot give an opinion on the positions taken by political parties about participating in the elections," Bonazzi said. "But it seems that there is a desire [by the government] to try to arouse the interest of all the citizens to take part in the upcoming contest."
Although U.S. and European officials have claimed they will not bestow the honor of their electoral observations on Haiti, non-governmental election observers said they would. The International Coalition of Independent Observers (ICIO), which includes organizations like Global Exchange and the Quixote Center, arrives this week from the U.S., Canada, and certain European countries. The ICIO criticized certain foreign sectors for denigrating Haiti's elections while hypocritically ignoring the shameful frauds which have come to light in the Nov. 7 U.S. elections.
The ICIO's position sits well with most Haitians. "We have seen what happened in the United States and it proves that they are experts in making electoral coup d'états," Dupuy said. "The U.S. electoral crisis clearly shows that they have no moral authority to give lessons to anybody."
Meanwhile, a new organization called the National Unit for Electoral Observation (UNACO) says it is ready to deploy four to five thousand observers around the country to observe the elections. UNACO's coordinator Jean Alix says that his group has no political affiliation and that its activities are financed by citizens and the private sector.
Despite his immense popularity and not having any real challenger, candidate Aristide has not rested on his laurels. His party militants have been energetically campaigning around the country through meetings, banners, posters, graffiti, media spots, and marches, mostly impromptu. Last weekend, a small plane buzzed the northern city of Cap Haïtien, dropping thousands of small red and blue flyers with Aristide's photo urging voters to choose #11, the FL's electoral number on the ballot.
The opposition continues to say that there cannot be elections in the "present conjuncture." It hopes that voters will stay home due to the insecurity and threats of violence. In a suspicious move, the Committee of Haitian Workers (COH), an obscure union, has called for a strike on Nov. 25 and 26, the eve of the election, to protest the hike in gas prices two months ago, at which time this union said nothing.
Despite Mgr. Bonazzi's measured words, the Catholic hierarchy clearly favors the opposition. A bishop of Port-au-Prince, Mgr Serge Miot, who has been very discreet until now, said that the elections would not provide enough political stability to resolve Haiti's economic woes. "One cannot talk of elections if the opposition is not participating," he said.
Meanwhile Foreign Minister Fritz Longchamp denied rumors that there are ongoing secret negotiations between the FL, the government, and the opposition under the aegis of the Organization of American States.
In short, most Haitians have grown tired of being held hostage by a tiny circle of politicians, most of them associated in one way or another with the three year coup d'état. Benefitting from thinly-veiled foreign backing and lacking any popular credibility or legitimacy, the opposition, with the support of right-wing sectors in Washington, have sought to destabilize the country to prevent the Nov. 26 elections. But despite their threats, intrigues, and acts of violence, the opponents of this weekend's election and the Haitian people's democratic march seem once again doomed to failure.
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