haiti election

Here is a picture of Former President Jean Bertrand Aristide and Maryse Narcisse on the last day of campaigning

Aristide Supports Lavalas Candidate Narcisse.

Hordes of excited Haitians streamed alongside the campaign vehicle of Maryse Narcisse, riding with former President Aristide in a parade to mark the end of her campaign for president. Narcisse is running under Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas, one of 56 candidates vying for the top job.

Most of the crowd was from slum Cite Soleil and are Lavalas supporters, one of whom says "It's the party that knows the pain of the Haitian people."

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Here is a picture of the 5 Independent Members of the Verification Commission. The 5 Independent Members of the Verification Commission established - From Right to Left: Francois Benoit, Gedeon, Pierre Wilfrid Sanon, Marc Donald Jean, and Michel Eric Gaillard.

On Thursday, April 28, 2016, at the National Palace, the Provisional President Jocelerme Privert accompanying the Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles installed the 5-member Independent Commission for Electoral Evaluation and Verification (CIEVE). The main objectives of installing this commission are, reviewing previous election processes and results, electoral court decisions, and restore confidence and trust before moving forward with the unfinished election. The five members of the Commission are: (1) Mr. François Benoît, the leader, and former member of the Provisional Electoral Council (2005-2006); (2) Mr. Gédéon Jean, former member of the Independent Electoral Evaluation Commission created by presidential decree dated December 22, 2015 (under the Martelly regime); (3) Mr. Pierre Wilfrid Sanon, designated by the Haitian Association of construction companies; (4) Father McDonald Jean, appointed by the Anglican Church (former senator and member of the Council of the Wise in 2004); and (5) Mr. Michel Eric Gaillard, designated by the Order of Chartered Professional Accountants of Haiti.

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Here is a picture of Mr. Francois Benoit, President of Verification Commission.

Pierre Francois Benoit, the leader of the Independent Commission for Electoral Evaluation and Verification (CIEVE) has completed the audit of last election and concluded the findings of the commission after a month long review. As per his report dated May 30, 2016, after an examination of 25% random sample of the roughly 13,000 tally sheets from polling stations, the Commission has noticed about 628,000 untraceable votes. Lot of votes could not be traced to a voter or to a group of voters. It has been observed that often number of untraceable votes in the polling stations have surpassed the legitimate votes. Out of the total valid votes of 1,560,631 about 29% or 448,000 voters were untraceable and 180,250 were with fake CIN, making a total of 628,000 or 40% of total valid votes (1,560,631). It was further noticed that first place winning president candidate received more number of untraceable votes than the combined total of such votes to second and third place winners. The CIEVE has recommended throwing out the disputed results of last year's first-round presidential election and restart from zero, because it appeared to be tainted by fraud. As per Benoit, it appeared electoral fraud was masterminded at a "high level."

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May, 20, 2016 - The chairman of the Election Commission of Verification, François Benoit as well as Several members of the Scientific and Technical Police were present at the Vote Tabulation Centre (CTV) to verify signatures and fingerprints of a sample of voters. The Evaluation Commission has 30 days to accomplish this their mission.

In last April, on 28th, the interim President Jocelerme Privert installed an Independent Commission for Electoral Evaluation and Verification (CIEVE) with the objectives of reviewing previous election results and electoral court decisions, before moving forward with the unfinished election. It was decided that the commission would conduct a random sample survey of 25% of the roughly 13,000 tally sheets collected from the polling stations.
The submitted Report of such Independent Commission on May 30, 2016, audited by a five-member panel, led by a businessman, Francois Benoit, who is a former ambassador to the U.S, shows that out of the total valid votes of 1,560,631 about 29% or 448,000 voters were untraceable, because they did not fill the required "procès-verbal de carence" which were meant to be filled by the representatives of political parties and election observers who were on duty, entitled to cast votes at the polling stations where they were engaged other than where they were registered to vote. The number of fake CIN numbers (as per National Identification Card) written by hands was 180,250 or 16.2% of the vote cast, because the signatures or fingerprints recorded at the voting centers do not match with the records on the CIN cards. For the 1,112,600 traceable votes, 180,250 were with fake CIN, making a total of 628,000 (448,000 + 180,250) untraceable votes or 40% of total valid votes (1,560,631).

The commission has further observed that often number of untraceable votes in the polling stations have surpassed the legitimate votes. The commission has noticed that number of untraceable votes received by the first-place candidate, according to the results of the CEP, was higher than the total number of such votes received by the second- and third-place candidates and it was higher than the difference between the first- and fifth-place candidates. The CIEVE has recommended rejecting the last year's first-round presidential election because it appeared to be tainted by fraud. As per Benoit, it appeared that electoral fraud was masterminded at a "high level."

However, the final decision whether to redo the election will have to be made by a reconfigured Provisional Electoral Council.

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Here is a picture where several members of the Verification Commission took over the Tabulation Center.

On Thursday, April 28, 2016, the Provisional President Privert installed the 5 members Independent Commission for Electoral Evaluation and Verification (CIEVE) to establish credibility of the 2015 election results and restore confidence and trust to participate in the upcoming elections. On Thursday, May 12, 2016, over 60 experts from such commission visited the Tabulation centers to take control over the situation and start their challenging tasks to check the compliance of the voting process, polling and counting in accordance with the Electoral rules. They are working under close observation of the representing political parties. Earlier, it was decided that since it is not possible to check every vote cast by 5.8 million registered voters, the commission would audit the last election process through a 15% random sample. However, as per the recent decision to avoid large sampling error, the sample size has been increased to 25%.

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Here is a picture of Jovenel Moise's Supporters dressed in banana to support him.

On February 2, 2016, the supporters of Jovenel Moise from PHTK party during a demonstration against plans for a postponed presidential runoff, were dressed in banana costumes. Moise, the first round winning candidate from PHTK party is Martelly's chosen successor. Moïse, in his early life, created his first business with little investment JOMAR Auto Parts in Port-de-Paix, which is still in operation today. Thereafter, he began project to supply clean water in rural areas. Later, in partnership with Culligan he opened a water plant. In 2004, he became a member (later president) of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Northwest (CCINO), later promoted to Secretary General of the CCIH. In 2008, he founded Haitian Energy Company SA. In 2012, he founded AGRITRANS SA, with the agricultural project NOURRIBIO at Trou du Nord which was Haiti's first agricultural free trade zone. The project was further extended to include over a dozen of agricultural projects. In 2014, a large-scale banana export plantation, was designed and implemented as a public-private partnership with the Government of Haiti, covering 3,000 hectares of agricultural land. His project has created 3,000 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs. For Moses, it is important that Haiti finds its place on the world map of exporting countries. He is affectionately called as "Banana Man" by the countrymen.

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This is one of the classics in Haiti Election. The famous slogan "Vote Pre Pou Loin ka vini" by Rene Preval.

When Jean-Bertrand Aristide became the President in 1991, hundreds of thousand Haitians believed him as a prophet. The former leftist priest made promise for a radical shake up of the political and judicial systems. He also promised that he would stop the U.S from sucking blood of the Haitian people. However, very soon his malpractices and corruptions came into light. Even the public treasury was pillaged. The Haitian people were shocked to learn that the former priest was an alleged father of six illegitimate children, with five different women. Aristide was Haiti's first democratically elected president and three times he held the President's office (7 February 1991 - 29 September 1991, 12 October 1994 - 7 February 1996 and 7 February 2001 - 29 February 2004) until he was ousted in a 2004 coup d'état for the second time after September 1991 and was forced into a seven-year exile to Central African Republic. René Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was twice President of the Republic of Haiti (February 7, 1996 - February 7, 2001 and May 14, 2006 - May 14, 2011). In 1991, when Aristide was elected president, Préval became prime minister. Following the 1991 military coup, he fled into exile with Aristide. However, he later succeeded Aristide in 1996. As a President, Preval managed very modest achievements during his first term. His welfare projects targeting poor earned him the prefix "Ti" (Little) René. In 2001, Preval became Haiti's first elected president to leave office after a full term. During his second term as President, his most efforts were hampered by the rising cost of basic foodstuffs, deadlock in the legislature, and the deteriorating condition of law and order. As a President, he also encountered the devastating 2010 earthquake.

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Here is a picture of Leopold Berlanger who is back at the CEP, representing Media sector.

On February 24, 2016, Leopold Berlanger (born 1955), the Director of Radio Vision 2000 and a former electoral adviser has been selected as a member of the 9-member Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), representing the media sector. Leopold, a brilliant student in his studies, completed his graduation in Earth Sciences (Netherland), Doctorate in Social Sciences, and Regional Planning and Development planning (both from Sorbonne, Paris). He has a varied and diverse experience in activities of civic and social characters. One of the several organizations that supported his nomination was Association of National Haitian Media (ANMH) headed by Mr. Herold Jean Francois. In April 2013, he was designated by the CEPJ (Superior Council of the Judiciary) to be a part of the CTCEP (Permanent Electoral Council). Leopold is an active member in many international election observation missions with the OAS.

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The Presidential election run-off scheduled for January 24, 2016 between Jovenel Moise and Jude Celestin

In the afternoon of Friday, January 22nd, the Haitian electoral officials made an abrupt cancellation of the Sunday's (January 24, 2016) scheduled presidential and partial legislative runoffs, because as per Pierre-Louis Opont, the president of the country's beleaguered election commission, it is no longer opportune for having elections considering the threats against electoral infrastructure and the voters. Minutes earlier to this announcement in a press conference called by Opont at the electoral council's headquarters in Petionville, officers were busy in distributing ballots and other voting materials. Following the announcement, they immediately began to recover them. Opont said, more than a dozen infrastructures, including some private residence of election officials had either been set on fire, or such attempts were made. Violent acts and verbal threats against elections officials became a regular affair. As the chief of CEP, he could no longer guarantee the security of poll workers or the country's 5.8 million registered voters. Less than 30 minutes earlier, following a campaign rally in the city of Ouanaminthe, the government-backed candidate Jovenel Moïse was looking victorious while appearing for an interview in the restaurant of a nearby hotel. Opont's decision has put Haiti on the road of a very complicated process about what is to come, who will take charge of the country after February 7th.

On November 29, 2015, Celestin and other seven presidential candidates, representing 49.81% of the vote, gave an ultimatum that no honest, transparent and credible election is possible by the Joseph Michel Martelly administration in conjunction with the present corrupt CEP along with the support of present Police Nationale d'Haïti (PNH). They demanded a transitional government, which would be empowered to make necessary revisions in the constitution to hold credible free and fair election within next 24 months. The result in no way reflects the support of the common people. Jovenel Moise, handpicked by Martelly as his successor, came to the top with 32.8% of the votes as per published result, while an exit poll on the Election Day (October 25) placed him on the fourth place with a meager 6% vote.

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Here is The G8 and Fanmi Lavalas

The G8, Fanmi Lavalas and other opposition parties are not satisfied with the announcement of 'Commission of Electoral Evaluation' by the Martelly administration. They, along with other independent observers and U.S media like 'The New York Times', are of opinion that the October election in Haiti, to choose a successor to President Michel Martelly, has been marred by so much ballot tampering, illegal voting and other abuses that it could be denounced as 'illegitimate'. Some of the observers are of opinion that if G8 could find a consensus and form an alliance with Fanmi Lavalas, and all the opposition can stand up as one man against Martelly's handpicked successor Jovenel Moses in the December 27th election, they would be able to prevent the forceful imposition of Jovenel Moses as Martelly's successor.

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