Live Updates on Today's Legislative Elections - August 9

Today Haiti is going to the polls. Long-delayed, the first-round legislative elections held today (August, 9) are seen by many as a test before the presidential elections to be held later on in the year. Official observers from OAS, the European Union and Haitian civil society organizations, as well as a team from the Haiti Elections Blog collaboration have been closely following the developments since the opening of the polls today.  

This Live Blog will include reports obtained by a) our own observers on the ground, b) the team's direct communications with observers, journalists and others on the ground, c) SMS reports to our ground-sourcing platform, and public sources. We cannot verify every report, but will try to verify the most serious incidents. We are also distributing information via our Twitter feed, and on our Electoral Incidents map.


Update 11PM:

Just recieved an observer report that in the Voting Center of Menvyel, in the 1st section of Chansolme, NorthWest Department, armed men threatened the voting center supervisor with a gun, and forced him to accept filled-in ballots that they presented. According to several people interviewed, the men were supprters of former Deputy and current Deputy candidate Pierre Martin Tatout.  Sources also claim that PNH and MINUSTAH units were nearby and did not intervene to stop the attack. Many other sources in the area claimed they had been offered bribes to vote for Mr. Tatout.

Other important news includes:
-the CEP estimates that 4% of the Voting Centers were disturbed, covering 290,000 of Haiti's 5.8 million voters.
-the CEP says it cannot provide an estimate of turnout at this time.
-the CEP estimates that 90% of CVs had at least three mandataires
-the CEP estimates that as of 9:30 this morning, 98% of voting centers were open, 92% of electoral material had been distributed.
-the CEP reporths that the problem with political party's mandataire authorizations was the result of a theft by a Counsel employee, who has been a fugitive since Saturday. The employee denied the allegations on his Facebook account.
-the Ministry of the Interior reports that the City Hall of Limbe was burned;
the police report arresting 137, 21 in Port-au-Prince, and confiscated  23 guns. 3 officers injured;
-the CEP appear to blame the PNH for failing to provide adequate security; claims that MINUSTAH was not deployed today for electoral security

Update 4:20 PM:  

The polls are supposed to be closed now, although there are some reports that some late-opening Centers have extended hours. And as usual in Haitian elections, voters in line at closing time will be allowed to vote.

There continue to be reports of problems with access to vote and electoral violence coming in. We will have all of the reports we have plotted out on our Election Incident Map as soon as we can. 

But the most troubling development is insistence that these elections are fine, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary (with even more evidence likely to stream in over the next 24 hours), by the Electoral Council, Haitian officials and important members of the international community.

The head of the European Union/Organization of American States observer delegation said the elections were happening with “almost total normalcy.” The CEP has insisted that things were going well throughout the day. The website and twitter feed of MINUSTAH, the UN military mission, contain many positive observations with almost no mention of problems.

There is, unfortunately, precedent for the international community imposing poor elections and manipulated results on Haiti’s voters. For starters, read this article based on an interview with the head of the OAS electoral mission in 2010, who saw the manipulation first-hand.

The good news is that this is 2015, not 2010. There are many credible voices, from Haitian civil society, from Haitian and foreign journalists and from foreign observers that have documented the problems.  More will come out in the following days. Many are cited in this blog, more are in our Twitter feed. We can get these voices out so they cannot be ignored. “We” means all of us with a Twitter account, Facebook, email or a computer. We can each do our part to ensure that the truth about the elections prevais, by spreading the word on social media, and in the comments section of articles that reflect the official version more than reality.

This is not to say that voting did not go well in many places, or that many electoral officials worked hard and courageously under difficult circumstances to make it work. But it cannot be ignored that there were highly significant problems that raise serious doubts about whether the vote was an accurate reflection of the Haitian voters’ choices. It is also true that it is too early to conclude that the elections were a failure. But that determination cannot be made by ignoring the documented problems.

1:45 PM ET
Situation seems to be deteriorating. There are widespread closings of voting centers throughout the country. Additional ones to last update include 3 CVs burned in Savanette, according to CEP member Yolette Mengual, several CVs in the Grande Anse area, several in Mole St. Nicolas.

There has been significant frustration expressed at the police force's limited response (according to many reports, there were police at the Damien center when armed men came to destroy it, the police did not intervene), and at the limited presence of MINUSTAH.

There are a handful of arrest reports, including of  Deputy Candidate in Marigot Frantz Moise, an appointed assistant mayor in Belladere

Street protests are starting to break out in the capitol.

An activist was shot in the mouth in Desdunes, 

No CVs opened in the Kanraran/Canaan Internally Displaced Persons camp area, where hundreds of thousands of people live.

Despite the increasing reports of violence, closed centers and inability to vote, the Haitian government and the CEP continue to state that the operations are proceeding satisfactorily.  There have been almost no comments from any of the international observation delegations, or other members of the international community.

Summary as of 12:45 PM EST:

Haiti's long-postponed elections started at 6AM today. There have been many serious problems, including closed Voting Centers (CV's), disputes between political party representatives and electoral officials, low turnout and incidents of violence. There are reports of missing electoral material, and that the "indelible" ink designed to prevent repeat voting washes off with water.

In-Depth Updates

Voting Centers Closed

In Port-au-Prince, CVs at the College Isidore-Boisrond and the École Nationale Argentine were forced to close after being ransacked by individuals. At others, the openings were delayed by several hours because of inadequate preparation ir disputes between political party reporesetnatives and election officials.

By 11, the Argentine Bellegarde Center was re-opened (the was the site of a 1987 election massacre).​

Other reported closings in Port-au-Prince include: Ecole Nationale Colombie in Christ-Roi, Horace Ethier CV, Jean Cauvin School . Lycee Georges et Antoine Izmery CV and Rue Frere CVs were over an hour late.​ Building 2004 (Delmas 2) 2 hours late.

At noon, we heard reports that 3 CVs in Cite Soleil- Don Bosco, Centre Damien and Village Repatries were destroyed.

 

Courtesy of @MelindaMiles

Outside Port-au-Prince: Jeremie: Nord Lexis CV

Ouanaminthe had many of the same problems as Port-au-Prince: delays in opening voting centres, clashes between political party observers and election officials over access to polling stations, and low voter participation.


In Petit-Goave, on-the-ground reports indicated voting was going smoothlyas of 8am. The night before, however, shots were fired and two people reported injured. Police carried out arrests earlier this morning, according to Haiti Press Networks.

In Les Cayes, the situation was calm and voting centres were open, but few voters came out to cast their ballots.

In Arcahaie, shots were fired and a voting bureau looted, leading to the closure of the closure of the voting bureau, Haiti Press Networks reports.

Problems with Electoral Party Representatives 

A fundamental safeguard in Haitian voting is the presence of political party representatives at each Voting Center. The theory is that having people verfiying the operations from several perspectives will reduce fraud or irregularities benefitting any candidate or party. Applying this principle is complicated in this election, where there are 131 political parties. It appears that the CEP addressed this problem very late in the process. ​ On Saturday the CEP capped the representatives at 5 per CV. That is not unreasonable, but it then becomes a challenge to allocate those five spots fairly.

Many of the political parties have complained that their representatives, or mandataires, did not have adequate access. Many accuse certain parties of having an unfair preferential access, including parties connected to President Martelly (by some accounts, up to 1/2 of the registered parties are connected to the President).​​   ​Our observers asked some mandataires what party they represent, they were unable or unwilling to identify the party.

Journalist Accreditation was also very slow, with many reporting waiting over 12 hours on Saturday for their accreditation.

There were reproted problems involving conflicts with mandataires at Ti Plas Cazeau, Stade Sylvio Cator, Institute Franciscan (Christ-Roi).

LIVE UPDATES:

UPDATE: 5:02 p.m. From Melinda Miles: Election workers counting votes at Place Ti Cazeau. Despite late start, polls closed on time there at 4 p.m.

UPDATE: 4 p.m. Scheduled close of polls, though some places might have stayed open later.

UPDATE: 3:15 p.m. Tires burning on Route National 2 in Gressier and Carrefour, where voting centers shut down.

UPDATE: 2:53 p.m. From Jacqueline Charles: police say 26 voting centers temporarily closed, but could reopen.

UPDATE: 2:45 p.m. From Jacqueline Charles: voting cancelled in Jeremie due to "disruptions."

UPDATE: 1:26 p.m. From Etant Dupain: CEP president says everything going "as planned."

UPDATE: 12:38 p.m. From Melinda Miles: Voting centers in Damian destroyed.

UPDATE: 12:26: From Etant Dupain: President Martelly votes in Petitonville

UPDATE: 12:11 p.m. From Amber Lynn Munger: voting center in Verettes in the Artibonite closed due to violence.

UPDATE: 11:30 am

According to our delegates, the incident at the Ecole Nationale de Colombie voting centre is escalating quickly. The voting centre was closed earlier this morning following violent tensions and stone throwing. It is now reported that the police are threatening to fire weapons.

UPDATE: 11:09

Robenson Geffrad reports: the voting centre in Nord Alexis, Jérémie is now closed following unrest and stone throwing. 

UPDATE: 11 am

OAS Press Conference scheduled for 11 am is now cancelled.

UPDATE: 10:20 am

Voting Center at the institution des Frères Unis de Delmas (Delmas 75, Port-au-Prince) still closed. Over four hours since the official opening of the polls.

UPDATE: 8:30 a.m. From Peter Granitz: Election workers leave after violence at Argentine Bellegarde voting center. 

UPDATE: 8:15 am

Growing tensions at Petite Place Cazeau, as Melinda Miles observes.

 

Courtesy of @MelindaMiles

UPDATE: 8:13 am

There are reports of growing tensions in Cité-Soleil where the voting continues under heavy police presence  Security officers from the US Embassy are elso deployed on the ground.

UPDATE: 07:59 am

Following unrest and the devastation of the voting center at Collège Isidor boisrond (rue Lamarre, Port-au-Prince), Haiti National Police decided to officially close the voting centre.

UPDATE:

6 am:  Voting officially opens but many of the voting centers across the country remain closed.

Courtesy of @JakeJohnston

Haiti Elections News Roundup - July 20

On Wednesday, the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on “U.S. Policy Towards Haiti Prior to the Elections,” presided by Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Tom Adams, State Department Special Coordinator for Haiti, gave testimony and answered questions on electoral preparations, administration and security. In his testimony, Adams emphasized that the United States “strongly supports the right of all Haitians to go to the polls,” and that the US “has no vote in these elections and does not support any candidate or group of candidates.” Relatedly, the United States Foreign Relations Committee also held a hearing on the nomination of a new US Ambassador to Haiti, Peter Mulrean, who echoed many of Tom Adams’ sentiments regarding US support for Haitian elections.

The Haitian government signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Union to send an official Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) to monitor the legislative, presidential, local and municipal elections. The mission, which formally launches today, is set to analyze how the electoral rollout conforms to Haitian law, as well as international elections standards. Elena Valenciano, Chief of the EOM and European Union High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Political Security, assured that the mission “will not come to interfere in the electoral process, but to ensure that the will of the Haitian people is reflected as faithfully as possible in the electoral results.”

Jacky Lumarque submitted a complaint to the Office of Civilian Protection, the administrative body in charge of addressing civil rights violations, alleging that the CEP violated his rights by disqualifying his presidential candidacy. Lumarque alleged that the CEP exercised an abuse of administrative power through his disqualification, and urged the Office of Civilian Protection to review this decision. In a radio interview last week, Lumarque remained resolute that his reinstatement efforts would “without a doubt result in my reintegration onto the approved candidate list recognized by the CEP.”

On Monday, the CEP, the Women’s Ministry and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems organized a seminar on women’s political participation in Port-au-Prince. Political party representatives and grassroots women’s organizations also participated in the event, where they strategized on how to enhance the voice of women in the upcoming electoral cycle. Yolette Mengual, the Women’s Representative for the CEP, stressed that the current rate of women’s political participation falls far below the Electoral Decree’s 30% quota, as reported here.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Evans Paul and CEP President Pierre Louis Opont met with officials from key United Nations Member States at the UN Headquarters in New York as a part of a donor conference to raise money for elections in Haiti. Although the Haitian government has already contributed $13.8 million USD to the electoral rollout, there is still a budget shortfall of $15.6 million for the UNDP’s electoral budget, according to Opont. In his testimony before the United States Senate on Wednesday, State Department Special Coordinator for Haiti Tom Adams noted that there was an overall shortfall of $50 million. At the end of Thursday’s donor conference, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Norway pledged to donate an additional $15.4 million.

The Haitian government and CEP have failed to reach an agreement on how to disburse crucial campaign finance funds for the upcoming legislative elections. Although the March 2015 Electoral Decree includes provisions on subsidies for political parties who meet certain gender quotas, the decree does not provide a clear formula for disbursement. As the legislative elections are set to take place within three weeks – on August 9 – the government and CEP must quickly decide how to divide the nearly 500 million gourdes available to 98 political parties and 1,515 candidates.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided key funding to Mouvement Tét Kale (MTK), a political organization with close ties to President Michel Martelly, during the 2010 elections. Documents obtained by Al Jazeera America show that USAID gave nearly $100,000 to MTK shortly after the US government, with the support of the Organization of American States (OAS) and other foreign governments, helped overturn the results of the November 2010 presidential election. This allocation to MTK calls into question whether USAID followed its own funding protocol, as well as US government claims of neutrality in Haitian elections.

Elections Web Conference: Tuesday, July 21 at 8:00 PM

Please join us tomorrow, Tuesday, July 21 for a web conference on Haiti Elections at 8:00 PM. During the conference, we plan to provide a background on the electoral rollout thus far, discuss the challenges of reporting on elections, analyze the décharge issue & disqualified candidates, and answer your Haiti elections questions.

Register HERE for the web conference. Conference presenters include:

• Jake Johnston, Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, will provide background on elections in Haiti. 
• Jacqueline Charles, Caribbean Correspondent of Miami Herald, will provide updates and discuss the challenges she faces in reporting on elections. 
• Wesley Lainé, IJDH Legal Fellow, will analyze the décharge issue which has disqualified a few candidates. This will include the controversial disqualification of Jacky Lumarque, former coordinator of a presidential commission on education.

USAID Funded Group Supporting Haitian President in 2010

Jake Johnston reports in Al Jazeera America on US government funding to Mouvement Tét Kale, a political organization with close ties to President Michel Martelly, during the 2010 elections.

"The U.S. Agency for International Development gave nearly $100,000 to a Haitian political movement with close ties to President Michel Martelly in the country’s 2010 elections, documents obtained by Al Jazeera show. The money was allocated shortly after Washington helped overturn the election results to thrust Martelly into power. 

On the afternoon of Haiti’s Nov. 28, 2010, elections, 12 of 18 presidential candidates took the stage at the glamorous Karibe Hotel, high up in the mountains that surround the capital. The elections were a fraudulent mess, they told the gathered press, and the only way out was to cancel the poll and start over. Chaos soon engulfed Port-au-Prince and other cities, as thousands of young Haitians, many clad in the pink synonymous with Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, took to the streets to simultaneously denounce electoral fraud and herald the victory of their candidate, many days before any official results would be announced."

Click HERE for the full article.

Haiti Elections News Roundup - July 13

The campaign for legislative elections officially launched on Wednesday, July 8. Candidates for Senate and the House of Deputies now have less than four weeks to promote their policies and candidacy to the general public before the first round of elections scheduled for August 9. Notably, the CEP has yet to disburse the 500 million gourdes that was earmarked by the Electoral Decree to campaign for legislative elections, leaving some candidates unable to campaign effectively. On Friday, Prime Minister Evans Paul assured political parties that they would soon receive the campaign finance funds once the government determines the best method for disbursement.

The VERITE party continues its reinstatement campaign for former presidential candidate Jacky Lumarque, along with other disqualified candidates. On Thursday, July 9, thousands of protestors marched in Port-au-Prince to demand Lumarque’s reinstatement. Although CEP President Pierre-Louis Opont recently reiterated the finality of Lumarque’s disqualification, leaders in the VERITE remain resolute.

Wikenson Bazile, an employee of the CEP, was shot and killed in Port-au-Prince last weekend. Bazile had worked alongside CEP member Jacceus Joseph, the representative for the human rights sector. Bazile’s killing is regarded by many as the newest threat to the CEP, which has recently been the subject of an alleged assassination plot. The CEP issued an official statement on the incident on Thursday in which they condemned Bazile’s killing and “other threats publicly committed by hostile groups towards the electoral process, the Council and its members.”

On Thursday, the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), the National Council for the Observations of Elections (CNO) and the Haitian Council for Non-State Actors (CONHANE) issued a joint press release urging the government to address the unstable security situation in Petit-Goave, where there has been widespread voter intimidation and violence. According to the press release, legislative candidates associated with VERITE and PHTK, the party of President Michel Martelly, have “create[d] an atmosphere of fear and intimidation which, according to all evidence, is intended to prevent voters from exercising their right to vote. . . If nothing is done in Petit-Goave, only the most powerful and bold candidates will have control of the polls and streets on election days.”   

On Wednesday, July 15, the United States Senate will hold a hearing on “U.S. Policy Towards Haiti Prior to the Elections,” which will be presided by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who recently proposed amendments on promoting fair elections in Haiti. Tom Adams, State Department Special Coordinator for Haiti, will speak at the hearing as a witness.

Electoral Council Denounces Threats as Another Employee is Killed

On Sunday, July 5^th, an employee of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), Wikenson Bazile, was shot and killed in the busy Delmas 32 neighborhood. Bazile worked in the office of Jaccéus Joseph, the representative of human rights groups to the CEP. The spokesperson for the CEP, Frantz Bernadin told Alterpresse on July 6^th, “We have no interpretation of what happened, we leave the judiciary and the police to do their job and we wait for the results of the investigation [in order] to have more information.”

The electoral advisor, Joseph, however was quick to point out that it was likely an assassination attempt. Joseph explained that there was no indication that Bazile had been robbed, and also pointed to threats he has received. “Taking into account the threats which I am the object of and assassination attempts during my presence in the CEP, I do not take this action lightly,” Joseph told the Nouvelliste, while adding that he would leave it to the police to do its job. Jaccéus Joseph stated that he believed the threats were a result of the neutrality shown by the electoral council.

In a radio interview last week, another CEP member, Nehemy Joseph, alleged that a group of disqualified candidates paid $5,000 USD to “a few assassins whose mission was to kill [CEP member] Jaccéus Joseph, myself and other councilors.” The allegation was quickly denied by Jonas Coffy, a representative of the group, who alleged that Nehemy Joseph had solicited bribes from excluded candidates for their reinstatement.

In May, Professor Emmanual Gouthier, Vice Director at the Ministry of the Interior was shot and killed. Gouthier was tasked with investigating potential candidates. There has been no further information released on the status of the investigation.

Today, the U.N. Special Representative to the Secretary General and head of the U.N. troop contingent in Haiti, Sandra Honoré, condemned the killing of Bazile and called on the police to conduct a prompt investigation into the circumstances. Honoré reiterated a call for all Haitians to reject violence, especially during the electoral period. 

Haiti Elections News Roundup - July 6

CEP member Nehemy Joseph has alleged that a collective of disqualified political candidates tried to organize an assassination plot against Joseph and other electoral councilors. In a radio interview last week, Joseph said CEP members had received credible information that a collective of disqualified candidates paid $5,000 USD to “a few assassins whose mission was to kill [CEP member] Jaccéus Joseph, myself and other councilors.” Jonas Coffy, a member of the collective of disqualified candidates, strongly denied these allegations, and went on to accuse Joseph of corruption for soliciting money from disqualified candidates in order to secure their reinstatement. So far, the Haitian National Police have yet to open an investigation on this matter.

The United States Ambassador to Haiti, Pamela White, expressed her concerns on the upcoming elections in Haiti at a large gala at her home on Thursday. She called on political actors and voters to “stop bickering over details, and start supporting the electoral process,” a likely reference to the protests and public campaigns of disqualified political candidates. She warned that if the tensions and concerns regarding the electoral rollout weren’t resolved soon, the international community would consider Haiti a “pays bloqué” (blocked country). Ambassador White also reaffirmed that the United States does not support a transitional government in Haiti, which has been a persistent rumor over the last few months. Ambassador White has, in the past, been criticized for supporting President Martelly over Haiti’s fair elections rules.

Jacky Lumarque and his allies continue to campaign for his reinstatement as a presidential candidate. On Monday, Lumarque’s VERITE party organized a protest in Port-au-Prince urging for his reinstatement and criticizing the CEP for his disqualification. On Thursday, Lumarque held a press conference where he called on the CEP to re-analyze his candidate registration materials, and to overturn his “arbitrary and illegal” disqualification. Meanwhile, CEP President Pierre-Louis Opont broke his silence on what led to Lumarque’s disqualification. In a radio interview on Tuesday, Opont affirmed that the CEP was justified in disqualifying Lumarque because he did not submit all of his décharges by the May 20^th deadline for presidential candidate registration.

The Director of the Electoral Registry, Philippe Augustin, reported that 70% of the ballots for the legislative elections have already been printed in Dubai. Augustin specified that all of these ballots will be sent to Haiti along with other administrative materials in the next two weeks, as political commentators have expressed their concerns over a timely delivery of electoral materials. On Wednesday, CEP President Pierre-Louis Opont returned to Haiti from Dubai, and assured the public that all of the legislative ballots would be sent to Port-au-Prince on time. Opont also responded to the controversy around outsourcing the ballot prep by stressing that Haitian firms still have the opportunity to prepare ballots for the presidential and local elections, if they are awarded contracts by UNDP.