Cen­ter for Eco­nomic and Pol­icy Research: Haiti Relief and Recon­struc­tion Watch

Hait­ian Pres­i­dent Rene Preval signed a decree on Tues­day set­ting Novem­ber 28, 2010 as the elec­tion date, the AP reports. Accord­ing to AFP, not only will a new pres­i­dent be elected, but the entire Cham­ber of Deputies and one third of the sen­ate are also up for grabs. Seri­ous issues, how­ever, have yet to be resolved. As we have notednumer­ous times before, the Pro­vi­sional Elec­toral Coun­cil (CEP) excluded 15 polit­i­cal par­ties from par­tic­i­pat­ing in the leg­isla­tive elec­tions planned for Feb­ru­ary. Among the par­ties excluded was Fanmi Lavalas, the most pop­u­lar party. There has been no indi­ca­tion if the exclu­sion will hold for the Novem­ber elections.

There are also con­sti­tu­tional issues con­cern­ing the CEP. The Hait­ian Con­sti­tu­tion calls for a Per­ma­nent Elec­toral Coun­cil, how­ever the cur­rent Pro­vi­sional council’s mem­bers were appointed by Preval dur­ing his term in office. The par­ties that had been excluded were pre­dom­i­nantly oppo­nents of Preval’s INITE coali­tion, rais­ing con­cern over the inde­pen­dence of the CEP. Al-Jazeera, in their cov­er­age of the elec­tion decree, note that Preval “did not address oppo­nents’ calls for the coun­cil itself to be replaced before a vote is held.”

Although the United States, United Nations and OAS have all pledged sup­port for elec­tions, there have been no state­ments from these actors about the exclu­sion of polit­i­cal par­ties from the elec­toral process. How­ever in a report for the Sen­ate Com­mit­tee on For­eign Rela­tions, rank­ing Repub­li­can Richard Lugar did raise the issue. The report, titled “HAITI: NO LEADERSHIP—NO ELECTIONS”, out­lines the fea­si­bil­ity of under­tak­ing elec­tions and rec­om­men­da­tions for the process. The report notes that:

Calls for Pres­i­dent Pre´val to exer­cise his exec­u­tive pow­ers and reform the CEP have been ongo­ing since con­tro­ver­sial deci­sions made by the CEP to ban can­di­dates rep­re­sent­ing Fanmi Lavalas (FL) from par­tic­i­pat­ing in the sen­a­to­r­ial elec­tions of 2009.

And rec­om­mends that:

The inter­na­tional donor com­mu­nity to seek an agree­ment with the CEP and all polit­i­cal par­ties, includ­ing the fac­tions of Famni Lavalas, to ensure that the par­ties meet the CEP’s legal require­ments and are not excluded from the elec­tions because of per­ceived technicalities.

The inter­na­tional donor com­mu­nity, and Hait­ian gov­ern­ment should heed this rec­om­men­da­tion and ensure that when­ever elec­tions do take place, they be fully inclusive.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/with-date-for-elections-set-next-step-is-to-ensure-full-participation