{"id":73140,"date":"2016-05-09T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=73140"},"modified":"2016-05-08T12:55:33","modified_gmt":"2016-05-08T11:55:33","slug":"haitis-election-verification-commission-a-step-in-the-right-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/05\/haitis-election-verification-commission-a-step-in-the-right-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Haiti\u2019s Election Verification Commission: A Step in the Right Direction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Marilyn<\/a>6 May 2016 – <\/em>On a visit to Haiti in late April with Task Force on the Americas, a California-based organization in solidarity with the social justice movements of Latin America and the Caribbean, we witnessed another example of Haitians resisting US attempts to facilitate continued looting of the country\u2019s resources and sabotage its democracy.<\/p>\n

Democracy has been sorely missing in the island nation ever since the 2004 coup d\u2019etat backed by the US, France and Canada, which ushered in a 2-year reign of terror, followed by the unjust exclusion of Haiti\u2019s largest and most popular political party, Fanmi Lavalas, from participating in any elections until August and October, 2015.\u00a0\u00a0 The most recent president, Michel Martelly, had been pushed fraudulently to the forefront of sham elections in 2011 by then-US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.\u00a0 Haitians we met with did not appreciate this interference, as he stole public funds, privatized valuable natural resources, and instituted a paramilitary security force reminiscent of the notorious Duvalier era.<\/p>\n

The October 25, 2015 first-round presidential election was riddled with massive irregularities, voter intimidation, ballot-box stuffing and tampering with tally sheets, as has been widely reported and documented.\u00a0 People we met with from different sectors, including two of the presidential candidates, affirmed the nature and extent of the electoral fraud. \u00a0Yet the US has pushed for a quick run-off between the ostensible top two vote-getters, which Haitians have successfully resisted with persistent, large scale street demonstrations.<\/p>\n

\"Graffiti<\/a>

Graffiti in Jacmel: \u201cElectoral coup d\u2019etat = revolution\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Physical structures can symbolize power or lack thereof.\u00a0 The Haitian National Palace, seat of government and source of national pride for 200 years, was severely damaged in the 2010 earthquake and has since been leveled.\u00a0 All we could see was a tall fence surrounding the now-empty site.\u00a0 On the other hand, shortly after the 2004 coup, the US Embassy was relocated from a modest downtown Port-au-Prince building to a newly constructed gigantic, fortress-like compound outside of town, surrounded on all sides by United Nations \u201cMINUSTAH\u201d military bases.<\/p>\n

Our group, consisting of seven US citizens and one Canadian, met with Michael Gayle, Deputy Political Counselor in the US Embassy, to discuss the electoral crisis.\u00a0\u00a0 As we underwent rigorous security protocols upon entering the compound\u2014passport check, metal detectors, handbag search, no cameras or cell phones allowed, no wandering around on your own, no going to the restroom unaccompanied\u2014I kept wondering, what is it they\u2019re afraid of?<\/p>\n

Our conversation with Mr. Gayle, while cordial and friendly on the surface, revealed the condescending and colonialist nature of the US government\u2019s attitude towards Haiti.\u00a0 His claim that Haitians have a poor history of participation in elections was refuted by one of our delegation members who had observed the 1995 and 2000 presidential elections in Haiti, both of which had gone smoothly with strong voter turnout and no major problems reported.\u00a0 He further suggested that \u201cboth sides\u201d were to blame for cancellation of local and parliamentary elections between 2011 and 2015, and that there was cheating on \u201cboth sides\u201d during the 2015 elections, when in fact outgoing president Martelly and his party were clearly responsible in both cases, with help from well-paid foreign political operatives.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>

Image of Haitian maroon revolutionary
\u201cThe spirit of the Haitian people will never break.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr. Gayle stressed the urgency of having a stable elected government in order to reassure outside investors (no mention of reassuring the citizens that their votes were counted!).\u00a0 When asked why the US isn\u2019t more concerned with the integrity of the elections than a delay in seating the government, he paused and then denied electoral fraud was widespread or affected the ultimate outcome.\u00a0 His concluding remark, \u201cWhen capabilities are so low and challenges are so great, where do you draw the line about how flawless the process has to be?\u201d was indicative of the self-serving US policy of dismissing Haitian people\u2019s intelligence, skills and aspirations.<\/p>\n

After the US Embassy visit, our next appointment with one of the 2015 presidential candidates offered a refreshing contrast.\u00a0\u00a0 At the office of Dr. Maryse Narcisse of the Fanmi Lavalas party, we were warmly welcomed in an open air and relaxed atmosphere, where supporters from various communities were engaged in lively discussions.\u00a0 Dr. Narcisse told us how all of the candidates and parties except a few associated with Martelly had come to consensus on heeding the people\u2019s demands and proposing a framework for a verification commission to do an in-depth and transparent evaluation of the 2015 elections.\u00a0 She said her party is not afraid of the results because people were fed up with the 2010-11 elections and insist on free and fair elections this time. She pointed out that while the current Provisional President has little power, he can appoint the verification commission and take steps quickly to assure a fairly and justly elected government is in place, which could then tackle the broader social and economic issues the country faces.<\/p>\n

As a US-based delegation, our message to Mr. Gayle of the US Embassy in person and to the US State Department in a press conference we held in Port-au-Prince was to stop pressuring Haitians to accept a seriously flawed electoral process and respect Haiti\u2019s sovereignty in rectifying the situation.<\/p>\n

The day after we left Haiti, on April 28, we were pleased to learn that Provisional President Privert did in fact convene the election verification commission as proposed by the group of parties and candidates, giving it 30 days to complete its investigation.\u00a0 Haitians will be watchdogging the process intently.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/p>\n

Marilyn Langlois is a member of the <\/em>Haiti Action Committee<\/a> and of TRANSCEND<\/a> USA West Coast.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His [deputy political counselor at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince] concluding remark, \u201cWhen capabilities are so low and challenges are so great, where do you draw the line about how flawless the process has to be?\u201d was indicative of the self-serving US policy of dismissing Haitian people\u2019s intelligence, skills and aspirations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}