Election - Haiti Observer Blog

Haitian President Michel Martelly is courting disaster if he does not hold legislative and local elections next year--and the earlier the better. They have been delayed more than two years, and repeated requests by senior government officials like Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe, have fallen on deaf ears.

Frustration at Martelly's stubbornness in delaying the democratic process has been coming from the international community, particularly the U.S. Joe Biden, Obama's vice President, made a conciliatory call to Martelly recently to both remind him of the pending elections and to compliment him on his attempts to cooperate with Parliament and other political factions to handle unresolved issues.

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Since Nicolas Duvalier has posted several pictures distributing gifts with to small Haitian children for Christmas, the "Teledjol" machine has been running. The main rumor has it that Nicolas Duvalier will be running as a candidate in the next election in Haiti.

So what's the big deal? He is Haitian and as any Haitian has the right to run if he believes he can serve his country.

However, since the news came out that Nicholas Duvalier is likely to run for office, this has been reported to have caused general panic in the Lavalas hierarchy. Nicholas is the son of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and grandson of another former dictator Francois Duvalier,

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The Haitian Senate has finally passed a new electoral law after a unanimous vote that took place on Wednesday October 2nd. For the vote, 15 of the 16 present senators who were in attendance voted in favor of the document. In the ceremony chaired by the Senator, Francky Exius, the electoral bill has been modified by the Chamber of Deputies, and the Senate Commission.

The new document comes with over 12 revised articles. Some of the changes made to the bill include those relating to the appointments of a director general by the executive. It also speaks to the terms of senators, the tabulation center operations and the authorizing of campaigns by mayors. Article 3.2 of the bill says that the CTCEP must appoint an executive director, not a Head of State appointed general director.

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Is he trying to say that Haiti is a basket case and that nothing worth while can be accomplished there?

You can interpret however you want, however Uruguay president Jose Mujica no longer wants to take any part in this mess.

He said recently that he plans to remove his country's nearly 1,000 peacekeeping troops from Haiti.

According to an interview on a local TV station, President Jose Mujica stated that he made that decision because of the lack of democratic progress in Haiti.

Let me tell you Mr. the President "You can never change Haiti". "Haiti will change you, or at least your conception as to what is logic"

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For the third time in a matter of six months, the office of North Miami Mayor, Haitian born Lucie Tondreau, has been searched for evidence that would link her to fraudulent absentee-ballot requests suspected to have been submitted by her campaign earlier this year.

While Mayor Lucie Tondreau denies any involvement in such a scheme, Miami Beach police and prosecutors from the Miami-Dade area affirm that the IP address used to submit the online requests has been traced back to Tondreau and Associates, the mayor's North Miami public affairs consulting company. From the search was uncovered the identities of more than fifty people whose information was used for the requests, which were submitted for the mayoral runoff in June as well as for the first round of municipal elections a month before. These ballots were not mailed as, due to their dubious origins, they were flagged as wary.

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President Martelly has delayed holding elections for almost two years. Prime Minister Lamothe wants elections held soon and is working his connections to put pressure on Martelly.

Recently Martelly made a surprise move, reaching out to two opposition party leaders, Serge Gilles, of Platform Fusion, and Evans Paul, leader of Inite Demokratik.

Evans Paul said he and Martelly talked for almost two hours about a range of issues: the political climate of Haiti, the Electoral Council conflict, the decision whether or not to dis-band Parliament in January 2014, and the state of poor living conditions the population at large must suffer under.

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Now I believe there will be an election in Haiti by the end of 2013. I can bet you some money that at least the first round of election will be held before December 31, 2013.

One may ask why Am I so sure?

The answer my friend is that the International community has spoken. First, there were some doubts with US Ambassador Pamela Ann White at first taking the position that the election would likely be held in 2014, then quickly had to return to her decision. Next, the government of Michel Martelly, in a strategic move to buy time, put a hold on the electoral law. Even one of the advisors of Michel Martelly, Stanley Lucas, came out to tell the press that the election is not possible this year and will likely be taking place the earliest, March of 2014.
To all these people, you have eggs in your face

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The Mexican Federal Electoral Institute (MFEI) held a global workshop July 1-4, 2013. Among delegations present during the four-day event, Haiti signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mexico to make official a program exchange between the two countries to improve electoral operations.

In the MOU, among other things, training seminars will give instruction on electoral administration, mentorship support, and a manual of standard operating procedures to be used to guide the implementation of electoral responsibilities.

Transient College Permanent Electoral Council (TCPEC) President Emmanuel Ménard signed the MOU, along with signatories Leonardo Valdes Zuita, General Council President, and Edmundo Jacobo Molina, MFEI Executive Secretary.

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