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Burned ballots inflame Haitian election tensions<br>
15 Feb 2006 03:16:25 GMT<br>
Source: Reuters<br>
<a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14194834.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14194834.htm<br><br>
</a>By Joseph Guyler Delva<br><br>
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Haiti's electoral council said
on Tuesday it would launch an investigation after burned ballots, many
cast a week ago for former president Rene Preval, were found still
smoldering in a state dump.<br><br>
Preval, a one-time ally of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide
opposed by the same wealthy elite who helped drive Aristide from power
two years ago, said on Tuesday that only "massive fraud" had
prevented him from winning a first-round victory in the Feb. 7
election.<br><br>
A few hours later, reports that hundreds and maybe thousands of ballots
had been found discarded in a massive garbage dump in Port-au-Prince
rippled through the ranks of Preval supporters, triggering anger and
demonstrations after nightfall.<br><br>
"That's absolutely unacceptable," said Rosemond Pradel,
secretary-general of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) charged with
organizing the impoverished Caribbean country's presidential election --
the first vote since Aristide was ousted by an armed revolt and
international pressure to quit.<br><br>
"The CEP was not handling the ballots," Pradel said. He said
securing the ballots after they had been cast was the responsibility of
the 9,000-strong U.N. force trying to keep the peace in Haiti, known by
its acronym MINUSTAH.<br><br>
"I cannot answer to those problems but we are going to set up a
commission to investigate the problem," Pradel said.<br><br>
U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said ballots were supposed to have been
sealed in bags and placed in a container, protected by U.N. troops.
"It's not normal to have these ballots there."<br><br>
Wimhurst suggested the discarded ballots could have come from nine
polling stations outside Port-au-Prince ransacked during the election,
with the loss of around 35,000 votes. He also acknowledged that polling
station workers, who were often of the same political group, could have
engaged in fraud.<br><br>
In the district of Truitier, where the burned ballots were found, angry
Preval supporters and local residents denounced what they saw as an
attempt to deny them a voice in Haiti's fractious and fragile
democracy.<br><br>
"The people are not going to accept losing their Feb. 7 vote,"
said a community leader who did not give his name.<br><br>
He said residents had seen unfamiliar garbage trucks pulling up to the
dump since last Thursday but hadn't thought anything of it.<br><br>
"They took all Preval's ballots. They threw them away in order to
prevent the vote of the people from passing. That is a crime," said
Rene Monplaisir, an official in the Preval campaign.<br>
**************************************<br><br>
PRESS RELEASE<br><br>
For Immediate
Release
Contact: Mikael Moore<br><br>
February 15, 2006, 12:01
a.m.
(202) 225-2201<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
CONGRESSWOMAN WATERS DENOUNCES THE OBVIOUS ATTEMPTS<br><br>
TO STEAL THE ELECTIONS IN HAITI AND DENY RENE PREVAL THE
PRESIDENCY<br><br>
Washington, D.C. - Today, on
Capitol Hill, Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-35) released a statement on the
elections in Haiti. The elections took place on Tuesday, February
7, but the results have yet to be announced. The Congresswoman's
statement follows:<br><br>
The obvious attempts to steal the elections in Haiti are blatant and
shameful. It is absolutely outrageous that the President
Aristide-haters, the anti-Lavalas elites, and the United States
Government would so openly and blatantly steal these elections. <br><br>
The international community is witnessing yet another blow against the
Haitian people by the same forces that forced President Aristide out of
Haiti, the same forces who are responsible for all of the chaos and
destabilization of this small country. How much more can the
Haitian people take?<br><br>
The anti-Aristide forces have done everything in their power to imprison
the leaders of the Lavalas Party and deny Lavalas leaders their right to
run for office and their right to voice their opposition to the Group of
184, the Provisional Electoral Council, the puppet government, the
International Republican Institute, and others who are determined to
undermine democracy in Haiti. President Bush must accept
responsibility for the ongoing violence, the chaos, and the blatant
attempts to steal these elections. <br><br>
Early results showed an overwhelming victory for Rene Preval. Many
polling stations posted their results the day after the elections, and
Preval won between 60% and 90% of the vote in all of these polling
stations. Last Thursday, the Provisional Electoral Council was
reporting that Preval had 61.5% of the votes counted thus far. <br><br>
Since that time, 125,000 ballots or 7.5% of the votes cast were declared
invalid by the CEP because of alleged irregularities. Another 4% of
the ballots were allegedly blank but nevertheless included in the vote
count, thereby making it more difficult for Preval to exceed 50%.
<br><br>
No one in their right mind could possibly believe that Rene Preval's lead
plunged so quickly below the 50% required to avoid a runoff. What
are the people of Haiti to do?<br><br>
Who in the international community will step forward and speak up against
the obvious power-grab perpetrated on a nearly defenseless
people?<br><br>
I am totally disgusted with my own government and the role it played in
this entire fiasco. Is their no shame? Is their no
compassion? Is their no decency?<br><br>
I cannot believe the audacity of the United Nations and others to tell
the Haitian people that they should not resist oppression and demand
respect. The Haitian people have suffered greatly at the hands of
the United States, France and Canada, powerful nations who preach
democracy and yet orchestrated the removal of the democratically-elected
president of Haiti and drove him from his own country.<br><br>
Is their no shame in the fact that the United States installed the puppet
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue from Boca Raton, Florida, who proceeded to
jail former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune on frivolous charges and jailed
other Lavalas leaders like former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert,
Haitian singer Anne Auguste and Father Gerard Jean-Juste without
cause? Is their no shame in the fact that the United States allowed
Roger Noriega to conspire with Andy Apaid and the Group of 184 to
manipulate Haitian students in cooperation with the Haitian elites in an
attempt to grab control of that country for their own purposes?<br><br>
Haven't the Haitian people suffered enough? The man-made terror and
violence coupled with natural disasters that have been inflicted upon the
people of Haiti will be recorded in history as catastrophic events that
caused tremendous loss of life and an unbearable and tragic existence for
the Haitian people.<br><br>
After all of this suffering, is the United States really prepared to
stand by and deny the poorest of people who persevered on election day,
walked for miles, and waited for hours for the right to elect persons of
their choice? If so, then the President of the United States does
not deserve to use the word "democracy," for he neither
respects nor supports it, but simply promotes the rhetoric of democracy
to his own advantage.<br><br>
I stand with the people of Haiti. I stand with the Lavalas
Party. I stand with Rene Preval and his Party of Hope. I
stand with President Aristide. I stand for justice, equality and
democracy. And I challenge the United States, France and Canada to
correct their destructive behavior and give democracy a chance.<br><br>
Rene Preval is obviously the elected president of Haiti. He
received considerably more than 50% of the vote, and he must be granted
the right to serve without further interference, obstacles or
violence.<br>
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