Photos

Here is a picture of Jovenel Moise and Jude Celestin.

Out of the 54 candidates running to replace the outgoing Haitian President Michel Joseph Martelly, the names of two top finishing contestants are Jovenel Moise and Jude Celestin. As per the CEP's announcement, Jovenel Moise, a government backed candidate from the PHTK party of which President Martelly is the President, has received 511,992 votes or 32.8% of the vote in the October 25th poll. Jude Célestin, a Mechanical Engineer from Switzerland, a presidential candidate under the LAPEH banner, is an executive director of the government's construction ministry. He has secured 394,390 or 25.27% of total votes. Since none of them reached the 50% plus benchmark or 25% lead, a run-off election will be necessary on December 27th, 2015. The former senator Moise Jean-Charles, who came third in the official tally with 14.2% votes, has claimed that his supporters have found numerous partially burnt ballots checked with his name and many ballots favoring his support went missing. Otherwise, he would have won half of Haiti's 10 departments.

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Vote Fraud in Haiti Election.

PHTK Interim Agents Commit Voter Fraud. It was discovered Martelly's PHTK party bought many thousands of accreditation cards from errant political parties to stuff ballot boxes.

Edouard Paultre, Director of Non-State Actors, claimed ". . . there were acts of fraud . . . on . . . voting day" by proxies paid to vote repeatedly. The accreditation cards' sales were traced to South East Department. Paultre says the CEP had ". . . no . . . idea about the number of accreditation cards . . ." doled out.

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Here is the latest report on rent increase in Little Haiti.

Miami Rentals Skyrocket. Miami is among the most expensive rentals in the U.S., ranking eighth. But placement does not include many neighborhoods, which remain fixed. Escalating rents are occurring in East Little Havana and Little Haiti.

Zumper, who evaluates listings, can only give an estimation of median prices, leaving out units filled by word-of-mouth, for-rent signs, or Craigslist sightings.

Figures indicate median prices fell 1.1% over the summer to $1,850.00 for one-bedrooms, and 1.2% to $2,500 for two-bedrooms. But prices remain at 5.7% over the last year.

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Here is a copy of the Decree issued by Michel Martelly regarding Generous severance pay to his Ministers and State Secretaries.

Martelly, Government Officials Get Sizable Severance Package

President Martelly, Prime Minister Paul, and other government administrators are getting a generous retirement package. An amended decree states 2.5 million Gourdes will be received by ministers and 2.0 million Gourdes by secretaries of state.

Other benefits include free vehicles, body guards, and annuities. The benefits will stretch over five years for ministers and secretaries of state, and two years for prime minister and president.

The decree has outraged working- and direly poor Haitians.

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It has been a rumor that Mandates have been sold in Haiti Election.

Sale of Mandates Undermine Fair Elections. Haiti's Election Day was peaceful; but was the vote was legitimate? Opposition candidates and observers claim the vote ". . . was (a) systematic, massive fraud"

Ballot stuffing and repeat voting marred the process. Electoral vote-counters are still reviewing ballots ". . . and quarantining suspicious or fraudulent votes . . ."

Accreditation cards were dispensed but ended up on the black market, in the hands of interim agents. Their paid proxies voted repeatedly for candidates at multiple polling places.

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Here is a picture of a Drones Surveillance spotted in Haiti sky during the October 25, 2015.

In Port-au-Prince's Petion-Ville neighborhood overseers tangled with each other while in line, and the police, who wore masks, tased the rowdiest supporters to impose order. Mid-month in Cite Soleil where protestors shot at police, 15 of them ended up dead. But despite the pre-election violence the polling place was bustling with voters, the largest turnout in Port-au-Prince. Evans Paul, Haiti's Prime Minister, commented the voting process was "satisfactory". But on Twitter he posted 70-plus people were arrested due to violence and voter fraud.

Undependable opinion polls indicated the biggest vote-gatherer was likely to be Jude Celestin in the first round of voting. This would pit him against Martelly's choice, political novice, Jovenel Moise, expected to be in the run-off on December 27th.

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Here is Candidate Jovenel Moise, Neg Bannan nan.

An incident of electoral fraud, one of many, occurred when candidate, Carlo Estard of Ayiti An Aksyon party, was arrested for voting many times, violating the electoral decree. Incidents of a polling place set on fire and a violent beating due to election fraud were exceptions to a mainly peaceful process.

Organization of American States Chief Celso Amorim, struck a hopeful note when he remarked ". . . Haiti appeared to be moving in the right direction."

National Defense Network of Human Rights, Pierre Esperance, differed, pointing out strong-arm tactics used to discourage people from voting. Of those many registered to vote, their names did not appear on electoral lists. Conversely, a party representative was found to have voted three times over.

At Tabarre party representatives took advantage of elderly voters, persuading them to vote for a PR candidate. Secretary General of Organization of People in Struggle, Saveur Etienne, said PRs badgered voters to vote for Jovenel Moise, President Martelly's favored candidate. Ex-President Aristide emerged from his home in Tabarre to vote for his party's Fanmi Lavalas candidate, Maryse Narcisse.

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Jean Bertrand Aristide and Dr. Maryse Narcisse voting at the voting center in Lycee Jean Marie.

2015 Election Day in Haiti Experiences Few Outbreaks of Violence: Mostly Peaceful Process. The presidential and legislative elections were held on October 25th, and the consensus was voting at the polls was relatively trouble-free despite some irregularities and random violence. Both Head of the European Union Observation Mission, Elena Valencian, and Platform of Haitian Organizations of Human Rights, Antonal Mortime, concurred the electoral process went well despite some exceptions.

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Here is a picture of some of the arrests made by Haitian Police during Election Day of October 25, 2015.

Presidential Election Runs Smoothly: Few Instances of Violent Activity. A run-off among the biggest percentage of voter-getters is a foregone conclusion. It is scheduled for December 27th. The challenges awaiting the victor include driving the stop-and-start economy to gradually let go of Haiti's dependence on foreign aid. Foreign donors financed the elections season at a cost of about $70 million.

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Here is candidate Jude Célestin on the way to vote at Lycée Nationale Pétion-Ville.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Celestin attended school and university in the capital before going to Europe to earn a post-graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in Switzerland. He has built a resume, demonstrating his deep and wide experience in government affairs, and understands the ins and outs of the Haitian political system.

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