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<b><big><big>ANATOMY OF AN ELECTORAL COUP
</big></big></b><br>
<br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=634">http://haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=634</a></small></small></b><br>
<br>
Marred by outright fraud, massive voter suppression in the form of
intimidation, and violence, the August 9th Haitian legislative
election was rejected by the people of Haiti. <br>
<br>
Yet, in a cynical re-write of history, the OAS, United States, and
European Union put their stamp of approval on the election as a
“step forward” for democracy.
<br>
<br>
As usual, the Haitian people resist. They insist on their right to
fair elections. Angry protests across Haiti demand that the August
9th election be annulled. <br>
<br>
Haiti Action Committee fully supports this demand.
<br>
<br>
Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
immediately declared the sham election “an electoral coup,” calling
for its annulment, and demanded that a commission be convened to
investigate. Other political parties soon joined this call. <br>
<br>
Many candidates throughout the country have formed “candidates’
collectives” to defend the Haitian people’s right to free and fair
elections. Below are some examples of the nation-wide pattern of
disruption, voter suppression and terror that occurred during this
sham election. <br>
<br>
THE DECK IS STACKED:
<br>
•Poll watcher badges were only distributed to selected parties -
PHTK, Bouclier, Verite, KID – all parties with close ties to Haitian
president Michel Martelly. <br>
•Observer badges were distributed to fake observers, facilitating
the movement of armed gangs between polling centers
<br>
•Voters’ lists were not posted as required by the electoral law
<br>
•Sustained gunfire erupted nightly in areas throughout
Port-au-Prince and other major cities leading up to the vote. This
created an atmosphere of fear and terror; rumors of a curfew and a
ban on public transportation were circulated and never dismissed by
the authorities, causing people to stay home.
<br>
•Polling places were eliminated in working-class and impoverished
communities and consolidated into difficult to access centers. Many
people did not know where to vote, and when they did could not get
there.
<br>
•Crude and numerous errors in registered voting lists prevented
voters from casting their vote, and drove them away from the polls.
DAY OF THE VOTE
<br>
•Poll watchers from PHTK, Bouclier, and Verite and KID were allowed
to enter polling sites, while other parties were excluded. By law,
representatives of all political parties may observe the voting
process. <br>
•Polling sites opened late or closed early in poor and working class
communities; in some departments, close to 50% of the electorate
were disenfranchised by sites that were closed due to violence.
<br>
•Throughout the day, Radio Timoun, affiliated with the Aristide
Foundation For Democracy, and other radio stations throughout the
country broadcast testimony from Haitians who called in to report
ballot stuffing, destruction of ballots, armed groups trashing
polling sites, and people beaten and killed. <br>
•Journalists and election observers photographed ballots tossed or
stolen at multiple sites.
<br>
•Duly certified election officials were suddenly removed and
replaced by Martelly operatives at numerous polling sites.
<br>
•Armed groups of men carrying assault rifles were allowed into
polling stations by complicit police and electoral council staff.
Photographs show some wearing the t-shirts of Martelly’s PHTK party.
Haitian National Police were reported to stand by while ballots were
destroyed, sites were trashed and ballots stuffed. The UN was
nowhere to be seen.
RESULTS – THE FIX IS IN:
<br>
•Candidates of three parties allied with Martelly – PHTK, Bouclier
and Verite - head the list of first-round winners for the
legislature.
<br>
•Voter suppression was evidenced in extremely low turnout across the
country, especially in the West - Haiti’s largest department,
representing 41% of electorate – where violence and closure of
voting sites were high.
<br>
•Figures indicate Haiti’s electoral council, the CEP, did not
tabulate close to 25% of the votes for Senate and almost 23% of the
votes for Deputy. <br>
<br>
NO! TO STOLEN ELECTIONS <br>
<br>
CEP President Opont defended the elections, saying “These are the
realities of the vote in Haiti,” and “Acts of violence are a feature
of elections.” These false and belittling characterizations disguise
the perpetrators of the violence. <br>
<br>
These were not random acts– this was systematic government-sponsored
violence throughout the country bearing all the features of
paramilitary actions reminiscent of Haiti under dictatorship. <br>
<br>
Fifteen years ago, free and fair elections brought President
Aristide and Fanmi Lavalas to power on a platform of social and
economic reform to benefit Haiti’s people. That vote was negated by
the 2004 coup led by the US, France and Canada. Now these same
powers, the OAS, and the UN are cheering on the Martelly government
as the “electoral coup” of August 9th is consolidated. <br>
<br>
This is a moment that demands our solidarity. Haitians are reminded
of a similar moment in the early years of dictatorship under
Francois Duvalier. It has to stop now. <br>
<br>
We can echo the voices of Haitians protesting stolen elections and
pre-determined outcomes. <br>
<br>
We can override the media embargo on what’s happening in Haiti, get
the word out, and stand with Haiti’s popular movement to demand
justice and change
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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