Haitian People Turn Out in Force for Democracy

The Haitian people have demonstrated true courage, true love of liberty, true commitment to democracy, in the face of every reason to give up and stay silent.  No matter what happens with the vote count, there is still a very long struggle ahead to build, from below, the society they desire and deserve, against the impositions from those above.  But the Haitian people have again given every reason for every good person to rally to their cause.  Those of us in the United States, Canada, France, and even Brazil and Chile, must work to make our governments help or get out of the way.

AHP News - February 7, 2006 - Second Edition - English Translation (Unofficial) by Mike Levy:

Port-au-Prince,  February 7, 2006 (AHP)- More than a million people mobbed the polling stations this Tuesday across the country to elect a president and 129 members of Parliament.  

The voters, a great many of whom are among the disadvantaged masses, affirmed that they voted or wished to vote to improve their living conditions and because they dare to hope again for better tomorrows.  

The representative of the UN Secretary-General,  Juan Gabriel Valdès, said that the vote was a success and a triumph of democracy.

"It was an admirable process", said  Valdès, praising the patience of the population, which is teaching a lesson to the entire hemisphere, he said. These elections are tonight opening a new era for Haiti.

Another United Nations official said that more than 90% of the 3.5 million registered voters took part in the voting.  

The president of the West Department Voting Office (BED 2), Jean Enock Faroul, declared for his part in a statement to Radio Solidarité that "we can affirm without hesitation that this evening we have a president".

He accused some CEP officials whom he did not name of having painstakingly planned the irregularities that marred the election.

Farroul said however that the irregularities that have been observed can in no way prevent the victory of the population that turned out in massive numbers at the polling stations.  

The vote was in fact marked by anomalies and irregularities.  

Johan Van Hecke, who leads the election observation mission of the European Union, said there were problems but they can not affect the outcome of the elections, he said.

Indeed, a great majority of the polling stations opened at least two to three hours late. Hundreds of voters had difficulties finding their polling stations and in certain cases found it impossible.

It was also pointed out that the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) was somewhat slow to resolve difficulties that were apparently easy to resolve or to implement some decisions such as prolonging the voting beyond the 4:00 PM deadline.

CEP President Max Mathurin, who spoke at a news briefing, said he was rather pleased with this election day. He said that the throngs at the polling stations are evidence of the confidence placed in the Electoral Council.

He rejected proposals for a second day of voting, considering that the people have spoken.

Mr. Mathuin promised that the CEP will respect the vote of the majority but he refused to comment on the percentage of the population that participated in the vote.  

The population of Cité Soleil was the community that experienced the greatest difficulties in voting. In some polling stations, the voters  were in fact unable to find any  way they could fulfill their civic duty, because the staff at the polling stations were stunningly absent.  

Voters also reported that they were subject to pressure from national election observers who tried to influence their vote.  

An absence of synergy among the various structures of the Provisional Electoral Council.

For his part, a CEP member known for his outspoken manner,  Patrick Fequière, rated the CEP a 2 out of 10 because of its inefficiency, but affirmed that in spite of everything, it was the masses who should emerge the winners.  

The vote counting began around 5:00 PM in some polling stations. But, in the absence of electricity, the election staff had to use candles. This led to fears of possible cases of fraud.

At the security level, MINUSTAH and the Haitian National Police did a considerable job. Only a very few cases of violence were reported. One police officer and one member of the community were killed in Gros-Morne under circumstances that remain confused.

A man in his 70s, Pierre Erilien, died, apparently of asphyxiation, in  Port-au-Prince, while in the town of  Fond Jean-Noel, in the Southeast of the country, a man fell from a truck as he was on his way to vote.

Kevin Pina reporting from Haiti on Flashpoints with Dennis Bernstein also said the polling stations for poor areas that did not open for hours after voting was to begin, and continued to have technical problems.  He also claimed that stations in wealthier areas likely to favor Charles Henry Baker opened without delay, and that the crowds of disenfranchised insisting on their right to vote knew of this discrepancy.

This is why the people in the poor communities believe the problems are by design.

He said that for this election compared to 2000 the U.S.-imposed government cut from about 12,000 to 800 polling places while a lot more money was spent for yesterday's elections, most of it coming from the U.S., France, and Canada.

Pina described crowds of people, thousands in a group, going to demand their right to vote, declaring their support for Rene Preval and, Pina said, the return of Aristide.  Fortunately the police are letting them go by, the UN troops are letting them go by.

Pina gave credit to the establishment media for reporting that the candidates that supported the coup have small minority support, and he called directly on the reporters in the media to now acknowledge their rôle in creating the paper tiger, puffing up the oppposition to be far bigger than it is.  "It's a puffer fish.  It's [the media's] puffer fish."

What this massive turnout means, Pina said, is that if Preval does not win, this country will utter chaos.  If he doesn't win, because of the right wing elite and its backing by Bush and the Republican party, there will be chaos.

In short, Pina said there is no way out class warfare in this country.  "The vast majority of the poor, so politically conscious, that that genie cannot be put back in the bottle."

"The battle lines are drawn.  There is not going to be any easy way out.  Unfortunately, that means there will be a lot more suffering."

"It also means the majority of this country, that lives in abject poverty, will never be forced into the back seat again."

Today vote monitors and members of AUMOHD discovered piles and piles of burned and trashed ballots marked for Preval.

AUMOHD writes "Thanks to our volunteer accompanier, Jared Sibbitt, here are three of pics of the burned ballots. Our information is that these were found in an area called Marcial near Cite Soleil. I have placed more pics on our website since this listserve has some limits on size of messages.

To see some photos go to AUMOHD's site at http://www.hurah.webhop.org/   or I have posted them up on www.freehaiti.net