Haiti:
Local elections denounced
by some officials

by Wadner Pierre
for Bureau des Avocats Internationaux

BAI — Sunday, December 3 2006 was the day the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) selected to call the Haitian people from throughout the country to vote.

The population did not come massively to the voting centers as on February 7, 2006. There were irregularities on the part of the CEP, ballot problems for mayoral, ASEC and CASEC races, in some cases the political parties' representatives or "mandataires" outnumbered the voters. Some opined that it was the mandataires, not the voters, who were voting, which were noticed at several polling places we visited.

Those who did vote told us that they were voting for change, and to fulfill their civic duty. They did not want to be photographed or to give their names. Voters did not come to the voting places en masse. The candidates, who have continuously denounced the fraud and poor organization of the elections since this morning, have severely criticized the CEP.

Cite Soleil voters must choose a member of the House of Deputies as well as slates for Mayor, ASEC and CASEC. They voted in the "2004 Building" at the former military aviation facility, at SONAPI and in a police substation at Carrefour Aviation.. Unlike at other polling spots, the population of Cite Soleil voted in crowds, but not as large crowds as for the February 7, 2006 elections..

If, for some CEP members election day was a success, for others there were too many irregularities for a real election According to Counsellor Patrick Fequière, who had previously criticized his colleagues for misappropriating the $16 million U.S. allocated for these elections, the day was proof of the misappropriations. He made that declaration in an interview he granted to Tropic FM, on the morning of December 4, 2006. Mr. Fequière also denounced the misuse of funds in the Presidential and legislative elections of February 7, 2006.

From a security standpoint, a strong presence of Haitian police, UN soldiers with MINUSTAH and UN police with UNPOL were in every electoral center we visited, especially in the centers where people from poor neighborhoods were voting. The Haitian police and MINUSTAH appeared to have things under their control.

See also: