Haiti's Election Council accepts the inevitable November 23, 2009				News HaitiAction.net

February 29, 2009 — UN tanks and CIMO units set up barricades around the CEP offices on Route Delmas as a show of force against a peaceful demonstration by thousands of Fanmi Lavalas activists that were protesting the exclusion of fourteen Fanmi Lavalas senatorial candidates from the April 19 primary election. The exclusion came the day after Haiti's President Rene Preval met with the newly appointed US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. photo ©2009 Randall White

Haiti's Election Council accepts the inevitable

IMPORTANT UPDATE: see also Two-faced Democracy in Haiti
Shortly after this article was filed, the CEP ''reversed" course and excluded the largest political organization in the country —
Fanmi Lavalas — once again. See the editorial Two-faced Democracy in Haiti for an update. We will be following this story over the next few days

HIP - Port au Prince, Haiti — After a reshuffling of Haitian president Rene Preval's handpicked Provisional Election Council (CEP) that nation's largest political party is poised for a comeback. The Fanmi Lavalas political organization of exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide were excluded from Senatorial elections on a technicality earlier this year but are now officially registered to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections in 2010.

The apparent reason for the CEP's shift in position came as a result of international embarrassment over their previous decision to exclude Lavalas from two rounds of voting last April and June. The credibility of the elections were called into question following a successful boycott by Fanmi Lavalas that kept voter turnout to well below 10% throughout Haiti. Euvonie George-Auguste a member of the Fanmi Lavalas Mobilization Commission stated, "They know that they cannot afford to exclude Haiti's largest political organization from the next elections without further damaging their own credibility." When asked about the boycott George-Auguste commented, "Those elections were not free and fair and that is why the majority of the Haitian people stayed away from the polls. It was an embarrassment to the Obama administration that provided most of the funding for the elections and the international community that oversaw them. We are sure no one wants to see that again."

ConfIRMAtion of Fanmi Lavalas' participation in the next parliamentary elections came from Aristide himself who still lives in exile in the Republic of South Africa. In a letter sent to Gaillot Dorsinvil who heads the new CEP Aristide wrote on Nov. 18, "I mandate Dr Maryse Narcisse to represent Fanmi Lavalas before the Provisional Electoral Council. She has the authority to register, for the post of deputy and senator, Fanmi Lavalas candidates who are prepared to participate in elections that are free, honest and democratic. She has the authority to speak with the Provisional Electoral Council in the name of Fanmi Lavalas until I return."

The Haiti Information Project (HIP) is a non-profit alternative news service providing coverage and analysis of breaking developments in Haiti.

Winner of the CENSORED 2008 REAL NEWS AWARD for Outstanding Investigative Journalism

For further information about the Haiti Information Project (HIP) visit: http://haitiinformationproject.blogspot.com/
Contact: HIP@teledyol.net

Haiti News Watch
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Two-faced Democracy in Haiti Nov 26

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