Election - Haiti Observer Blog

Miami is home to one of the biggest populations of the Haitian Diaspora, 30% of North Miami's residents. Créole is the primary and perhaps only language they speak. When candidates run for office in North Miami, they depend on Haitian radio to present themselves to listeners.

The Haitian community in North Miami does not have access to media, such as public access TV. If a community newspaper exists, illiteracy among them keeps information undigested. What is left for those voters is Haitian radio.

Haitian radio hosts exercise unbridled influence. What they say--whether true or not--is received by their Créole-speaking audience as God's truth. At its best, Haitian radio keeps listeners abreast of local council developments, at its worse, conversations devolve into race baiting and political name-calling.

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Civic leader and Haitian-American, Lucie Tondreau, has become North Miami's first female mayor. She beat incumbent Kevin Burns with nearly two-thirds of the vote, in an uncontested election.

Seven-year old Lucie and her family escaped Haiti in 1967 during the violent dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier. They relocated to Montréal where Lucie grew up. After traveling in the Caribbean and Africa, Lucie returned to New York and worked as a journalist, becoming deeply involved in the Haitian Diaspora community. She hosted both her own television and radio programs, and wrote on Diaspora issues.

Lucie eventually realized she could be of more service to Haitians arriving in Miami, who needed help assimilating. She re-settled permanently in Miami, and became a champion for voting and human rights issues. She also participated in delivering aid support to survivors when natural disasters occurred in Miami (a hurricane) and Haiti (the earthquake), in 2005 and 2010.

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No elections in 2013? According to Emmanuel Ménard, that might be this year's reality, and the culprit is the cost. The CTCEP (College Transitional of Permanent Electoral Council) president, elected in mid April, made the struggles to fund the perhaps coming elections known in early May, citing that a past election has run up to nearly $30 million.

Currently they are preparing the budget for the elections, but cannot shed further light on the estimated cost. Emmanuel Menard stressed, however, that international help and funds from the government could be relied upon. Due to the money woes, he declined to give a guarantee on the elections for this year, though he recognized the deadlines demanded by the constitution.

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The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the world's oldest organization advocating human rights on an international scale has elected its first Haitian Secretary General. Established in 1922 and comprised of well over a hundred nations, the FIDH, at their recent meeting in Istanbul, Turkey endeavored to select a fresh International Bureau.

From their efforts, Pierre Esperance was inducted onto the new board along with other secretary generals, Paul Nsapu, who represents the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dan Van Raemdonck, who represents Belgium, Moroccon representive, Amina Bouyach and Debbie Stothard, representing Burma. Esperence also acts as the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights' (RNDDH) head in his home country.

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New elections in Haiti mean rewriting the electoral law. The body that does this task is the Transitional College of the Permanent Electoral Council. Its job is also to review proposals submitted by different segments of Haitian society: the Diaspora, political factions, citizen and women's organizations.

One of the proposals submitted is for enforcement of the 30% quota amendment written into the amended 1987 Constitution. This means at least one-third of women must fill positions within the government of Haiti.

Ministers of Women's Issues, Yanick Mézile, and President of the Commission on Women's Rights, Jossie Etienne, are authors of the proposal. Some signatories for the proposal include Fanm Yo La, Women for Democracy, and SOFA.

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Another representative of the Executive government has taken control. The 9 members of the College Transitional of Permanent Electoral Council (CTCEP), have elected the various members to fulfill the various positions. Emmanuel Ménard, the representative of the Executive branch of government was elected president.

Here is the actual structure with their new positions:
Composition of the Bureau of CTCEP :
Emmanuel Ménard, Chair (Executive Branch)
Mary Clunie Dumay Miracles, Vice - President (Legislative Power)
Marie Carole Duclervil Floréal, General Secretary (Judicial Power)
Pierre Simon Georges, Treasurer (Legislative Power)
Applyx Felix, Advisor (Judicial Power)
Chantal Raymond, Advisor (Executive Power)
Léopold Berlanger, Advisor (Judicial Power)
Margareth Giraud St-Louis, Advisor (Executive Power)
Joseph Néhémy, Advisor (Legislative Power)

I have a Panic attack.

I don't know about you but I feel that the Government is either lucky, influencial or is working to get control of the CTCEP at any cost.

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Currently the Haitian Parliament is experiencing a high rate of absenteeism, and without a quorum cannot vote for a Permanent Electoral Council (PEC). The PEC is responsible for holding "free, fair, and inclusive elections", which have already been stalled 14 months. But while a delay exists in putting together a PEC, President Martelly has appointed a nine-member Transitional College of Permanent Electoral Council (TCPEC). The CTCEP organizes the legislative and local elections, while the PEC tabulates votes cast on Election Day.

The CTCEP is made up of three departments representing judiciary, legislative, and executive branches of the government. It is required by law to be comprised of four women and five men. President Martelly disclosed names of three appointees to the Executive Department in Port-au-Prince last Saturday: Chantal Raymond, Margareth Lamur Saint-Louis, and Emmanuel Ménard. All three appointees must be vetted by Council of Ministers (COM), before they can take an oath of office and be seated.

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Jean-Bertrand Aristide, two-term president of Haiti, went into exile in 2004. A polarizing figure in politics, his strong push for democracy put his life in danger several times. He survived six assassination attempts. In 2011, Aristide returned from South Africa, keeping out of sight since then.

But his appearance in public after being summoned to testify on the death of a political colleague has observers wondering if he intends to re-enter politics. He spoke to supporters about upcoming elections and Haiti's food crisis. He believes if Haiti's Electoral Council can hold "free, fair, and transparent" casting and counting of ballots, Fanmi Lavalas could win a significant number of seats in the senate.

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He was first elected to the post of Haiti's President with a staggering 88% of the popular vote. René Préval again ran for president as the Lespwa candidate but, unlike his first election, this proved not to be a clear-cut victory. When early voting results were released on February 9, they indicated a 60% favorable voting for Préval. This number slipped to 48.7% as more ballots came in and a run-off became necessary.

There were celebrations soon after for the former president, but his comment on February 14, that fraud was at play in the vote counting and that he should be declared the winner of the first round, caused a series of protests to erupt. Port-au-Prince was crippled by torched barricades and protestors stormed the Hotel Montana, demanding the results of the election. Finally, on the 16th, after excluding blank ballots from the count, President Préval officially won his second term as the Haitian head of state with 51.15% of the votes.

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René Garcia Préval had his first turn as Haitian president the first elected in the country's independent history who served a full term lasting from the 7th of February 1996 to the 7th of February 2001, previously having briefly served as Prime Minister in 1991. Préval won the five year seat with 88% of the popular vote, making him the second head of state elected through a democratic process in Haiti's 200 years of history.

Rene Préval used his presidency to influence the implementation of various reforms to the economy, leading to a significant fall in the rate of unemployment by the end of his term, and to support the investigation of instances of human rights violations perpetrated by the police and the military. He brought about the privatization of government companies and, after dissolving parliament in 1999, spent the duration of his presidency ruling by decree.

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