A
letter from Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP)
to interim President Jocelerme Privert suggests that the
first round of do-over presidential elections as well as
several legislative run-offs might not take place on
Nov. 20 as currently planned.
In the Oct. 27, 2016 letter, which was obtained
by the Haitian daily
Le Nouvelliste,
CEP chief Léopold Berlanger gives Privert’s government
ten days to repair 280 voting centers, make passable the
roads leading to 161 others, and provide potentially
tens of thousands of voter identification cards to
people who lost them due to Hurricane Matthew.
About 40 of the would-be voting centers – mostly
schools – are being used to temporarily house people
made homeless when Hurricane Matthew
passed over the tip
of Haiti’s southern peninsula on Oct. 4, devastating the
geographic departments of the South, Grand-Anse, and
Nippes.
At this writing (Nov. 1), five of the ten days
have already elapsed with Privert giving no public
response. However, a presidential spokesman, Eddy
Jackson Alexis, told the Haitian Press Agency (AHP) on
Oct. 31 that the government is working on the problems.
“There has emerged an urgent need for the
government to immediately and without delay during the
next 10 days take the following steps: a focused
campaign of rapid rehabilitation necessary to make
functional 280 premises across the country to be used as
polling centers on Nov. 20, 2016 and Jan. 29, 2017,”
Berlanger wrote. “Then there should be consultation with
the appropriate bodies such as mayors, delegates, and
vice delegates who will release about 40 establishments
that are voting centers now being used as temporary
shelters.”
“It is equally important that the government make
passable the roads that lead to 161 polling centers,”
Berlanger wrote, adding that the National Identification
Office (ONI) had “to accelerate its work of identifying
voters who lost their CIN [national ID card] during the
passage of Hurricane Matthew, replacing them before Nov.
20.”
Le
Nouvelliste contacted by telephone CEP member Jean
Simon Saint-Hubert who confirmed that Berlanger’s letter
had been sent to Privert, saying that “the country
cannot again miss the date of Nov. 20 to hold
elections.” His professed determination “does not
prevent Jean Simon Saint-Hubert from having doubts,”
Le Nouvelliste
wrote.
Mr. Alexis, the Presidential spokesman, took
issue with Mr. Saint-Hubert’s equivocation, saying:
“This is an issue that needs to be clarified when a
member of the council that itself, let’s remember, set
the date of the election now has reservations as to its
fulfillment.”
It should be noted that the CEP had not toured
the wind-lashed, flooded southern peninsula before
setting its new electoral calendar.
In what amounts to finger-pointing between the
CEP and Presidency, Mr. Alexis “reiterated the
willingness of the Executive to create favorable
conditions for the organization of elections, as
scheduled by the CEP, including readying the logistical
and economic resources necessary to carry out the
elections,” the AHP reported.
Presidential elections were held on Oct. 25,
2015, but an independent verification commission found
them fraudulent. A new CEP scheduled a re-do election
for Oct. 9, 2016, but Hurricane Matthew forced its
postponement until Nov. 20, although most major
candidates wanted to reschedule for Oct. 30.
In addition to the presidential first-round,
there will be run-offs for 16 Senate seats and 25 in the
Chamber of Deputies. Run-offs for the presidential
contest and one Senate race are planned for Jan. 29,
2017. |