Outrage Over Rigged Feb. 2010 Elections in Haiti

Photo credit: blackagendareport.com

Once again, Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has barred Fanmi Lavalas from participation in scheduled Congressional and Senate elections in Haiti. The vote is scheduled to be held on February 28, 2010.

"Ninety-eight of the 99 seats in the legislature's Chamber of Deputies will be at stake in the February election, along with one-third of the 30-member Senate. The vote for the remaining lower house seat will be held at a later date."--J. G. Delva (Reuters)

Fanmi Lavalas is Haiti's most popular political party. It is the party of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide has spent six years in exile in South Africa since the US, France and Canada backed "Coupknapping" of Feb. 29, 2004. In spite of this, the CEP sought his signature on the application presented to the council by Fanmi Lavalas representative Dr. Maryse Narcisse. Such a signature has not been required prior to (boycotted) elections held back in February of this year (2009). Ideally, the CEP sought Aristide's presence in Haiti for the elections, which he graciously declined. See Aristide's letter to the CEP--translated below.

For several perspectives on this move by members of the "proxy" René Preval government--read here, here, here and here.

The systemic attempt to marginalize Fanmi Lavalas and instituting "constitutional reforms" in order to steal the vote from the poor majority is in full swing. Please take note that in an article on the right-wing Boulos family funded Haiti Democracy Project website titled "Getting Back to a Constitutional Electoral Commission," the [former] president of the Provisional Electoral Council, Frantz Gerard Verret, wrote that "Since Professor Leslie Francois Manigat [defeated 2006, received 12.40% of the vote] left power in 1988... the Republic of Haiti exited constitutional legality and never returned to it."

In preparation for the "selection," Preval's party Lespwa is attempting to reinvent their party with a new name. The "new coalition close to President Rene Preval" is now a party called "Unity."

Interestingly, the "UN independent human rights expert Michel Forst admitted on Monday that he did not have access to all the files and information relating to the Provisional Election Council (CEP)’s decision to bar Fanmi Lavalas from upcoming elections." Wonder if the CEP will provide this "independent" UN body with this much sought evidence? Unfortunately, the CEP has neglected to mention what the missing "legal requirements" are that are the basis for its exclusion of FL. One can only speculate from what sources close to the CEP have told Reuters. Apparently the CEP is being extraordinarily cautious and "the decision to bar the party was motivated by suspicions that the signature on a faxed letter sent by Aristide, authorizing local representatives to register the party, was falsified."

June 21, 2009 — An ominous message by the UN is understood to mean that if Haitians don't vote, there will be more violence and hunger. Ironically, not even MINUSTAH showed a full ballot box with their own election propaganda displayed inside polling sites. Click image above to open the article from June Photo and caption credit: Haitiaction.net

The CEP can now be assured of the authenticity of the signature, because President Aristide has confirmed that he has authorized Dr. Narcisse to register the party.

"In a rare interview, Aristide confirmed on local Radio Solidarity on Wednesday that he had given authority to Narcisse to register the party, and questioned whether Haitian officials wanted to hold fair and democratic elections.

"That will depend on whether the electoral council wants to organize an election or to make a selection," Aristide said by phone from South Africa. "If they want to organize elections, I encourage them. But if they want to make a selection I urge them not to take that path because it will not serve the country's interests."

A copy of his letter to the head of the CEP, Gaillot Dorsivil, is posted on the Fanmi Lavalas website, here.

Whatever "legal requirements" the CEP can dream up next will most likely be insufficient to persuade any Haitian that they will be conducting democratic, free and fair elections next February. The Haitian populace are sure to have a problem with their exclusionary "selection" of a majority of the seats in the Haitian Senate and Congress.



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Aristide's letter to the head of the CEP authorizing Dr. Narcisse to register FL candidates

Mr Gaillot Dorsinvil
President of the Provisional Electoral Council
Republic of Haiti

Mr Dorsinvil,

I salute you and thank you for the letter that you wrote to me dated 9 November 2009. I would have been happy to participate in the meeting of 13 November, but unfortunately the notice was too short. The green-light from the Haitian government has not yet arrived here in South Africa; I will come for a future occasion.

In the meanwhile, 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.

Mr Dorsinvil, when you deem it necessary, you can always write to me, as you did in your 9 of November letter.

I am happy to salute you again, and I hope that this time, this new Provisional Electoral Council will find the full and complete freedom to organize elections that are free, honest and democratic.

Every person is a human being.
Every person counts.
The vote of every person counts.

Patriotically,

Dr Jean-Bertrand Aristide
18 November 2009
Pretoria, South Africa

Translation courtesy of Haiti.net.

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UPDATE: 12.04.2009

Haiti the Struggle Continues, a radio program which airs on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York on the Pacifica Radio Network, covered this issue. Listen to the program here.

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UPDATE: 12.10.2009

Interview with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide November 25, 2009 on Radio Solidarité in Port-au-Prince. Listen to the hour long program on the Fanmi Lavalas website.

Haiti: News So Bizarre, you have to laugh...

Underaged US Embassy Hire Steals $800K?

CEP: Aristide Sign-Off Needed

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Haitian Man Hired to Handle Money When He Was Only 12 by the U.S. Embassy in Haiti Has Confessed to Embezzling more than $800,000

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a press release announcing that a 25 year old employee named Gary Saint-Joy, who the U.S. Embassy in Haiti claims they hired as a cashier in 1995 when he would have only been 12 years old has confessed and pleaded guilty to stealing "approximately" a total of $849,000.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti is described as a "behemoth" costing 75 million to build in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The compound, finished in 2007 is the fourth largest in cost -- coming in first is the U.S. embassy in Iraq. It is located on 10 acres and is entirely self-sufficient -- boasting a large interior atrium in the main building, state-of-the-art climate control, a water treatment plant and extensive landscaping.

In a brief statement, the Department of Justice describes the incident and charges:

"WASHINGTON – A former employee at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti pleaded guilty today to one count of theft for stealing more than $800,000 from the U.S. Department of State, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced.

According to court documents, Jean G. Saint-Joy, 25, a/k/a Gary Saint-Joy, a/k/a Garry Saint-Joy, a citizen of Haiti, was employed as a cashier by the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from approximately 1995 until July 2008.

Beginning in approximately 2003 and continuing until early 2008, Saint-Joy admitted he engaged in a scheme to embezzle funds from the State Department. As part of this scheme, Saint- Joy admitted he submitted and caused to be submitted false and fraudulent documents to the State Department claiming that he required reimbursement for the payment of legitimate embassy expenses."

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Haiti's "Provisional" Electoral Council bars a political party from participating in "democratic" elections because some lack former ousted president's signature

President of the Haiti's electoral council Frantz Gerard Verret, escorted by members of special forces, leaves his office in Port-au-Prince, Friday, Feb. 6, 2009. It will not let members of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party or a former rebel leader compete in upcoming Senate elections, Verret said. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) The Provisional Electoral Council has rejected 40 of 105 candidates for the April Senate elections in Haiti. The Council is not allowing members of Lavalas (Jean-Betrand Aristide's party) to participate, claiming irregularities in their applications. The AP reported that "All candidates of Aristide's Famni Lavalas Party were rejected for the April 19 election — in most cases because their documents lacked the signature of party leader Aristide" [bold mine] Lavalas leaders pledged to fight the decision. Electoral officials had assured the party in December that leaders in Haiti could sign for their candidates, said Maryse Narcisse, the head of Lavalas' executive council. "We think these are political machinations," Narcisse told The Associated Press. "Famni Lavalas followed the law. ... I think this is a provocation." The electoral council said its decision is final on all 17 Lavalas candidates and 23 others who were rejected, including former rebel leader Guy Philippe, whose rebels helped oust Aristide five years ago. Also barred from participation is former U.S. ally in the ousting of former Haitian President Jean-Betrand Aristide, Guy Philippe. Philippe is wanted by US law enforcement officials on unspecified charges. In the early morning hours of March 25, 2008, heavily armed commandos raided Philippe's home following his statements on a Haitian radio station that he was writing a book and was a victim of a political plot involving the US which put his life in danger. "Officials at the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince declined to comment on the raid. The U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of Florida, where media reports say a sealed indictment against Philippe has been brought, also would not comment." Back in 2004, the president of the Provisional Electoral Council, Frantz Gerard Verret, said in an article on the right-wing Boulos family funded Haiti Democracy Project website that "Since Professor Leslie Francois Manigat left power in 1988... the Republic of Haiti exited constitutional legality and never returned to it." The Haiti Action Committee (whose "Members foster extensive contacts with the grassroots movements in Haiti") has a statement on its website describing the history and purpose of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP): "On February 7, 2006, a Provisional Electoral Council, or CEP, established by the so-called International Community, the bourgeoisie, the de facto government, and the traditional politicians, organized tailored elections, clearly in favor of the bourgeois' representative, industrialist Charles Henry Baker (Representative of the Goup of 184) and of the "macoute" sector, intellectual Leslie Francois Manigat. To continue to protest against the bloody coup of February 29, 2004 and to dissociate themselves from all these putschists, Fanmi Lavalas, by far the greatest political force of the country, refused to form part of the CEP and refused to participate in the electoral process. However, bribed by the Embassy of the United States, certain executives of the organization, joined by some opportunists, without the knowledge of the National Representative and other persons in charge of Fanmi Lavalas, could register the organization with the electoral process. Read more. Haiti Solidarity Meeting -- Haitiaction.net

HatTip: Ezili Danto List (Riseup)