Early stages of process show need for inclusiveness.
Rob Annandale – Haiti’s senatorial election campaign officially kicked off last week, but it remains unclear just what the impacts of a long and worrying opening act will be.
Rob Annandale – Haiti’s senatorial election campaign officially kicked off last week, but it remains unclear just what the impacts of a long and worrying opening act will be.
Although Haiti’s security situation has improved of late, glaring social and economic inequalities pose a threat to long-term stability and a United Nations (UN) Security Council delegation recently stressed the importance of avoiding any new crises.
The lead-up to April’s election—the first of eight scheduled over the next three years—has so far not inspired confidence.
For much of February, the main artery between the capital Port-au-Prince and its poshest suburb was severed by barricades, armoured vehicles and UN security personnel tasked with protecting the headquarters of the country’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).
The cause of the disruption that diverted traffic into the bottlenecks of pot-holed and dusty side streets was the publication of the list of senate candidates. The list’s make-up raised eyebrows and concerns both domestically and internationally.
Among the 40 candidates initially rejected, perhaps the most recognizable name was that of Guy Philippe, a central figure in the events that culminated in the ouster of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide five years ago and the subsequent establishment of a UN peacekeeping mission.
Of far greater importance than any individual grievance was the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas, the party of Aristide who remains in exile in South Africa following what he calls a kidnapping by the American military. The CEP rejected all of its candidates on technical grounds.
The prospect of elections without the participation of a party which continues to enjoy widespread support among Haiti’s less fortunate led the United States, Canada and the Organization of American States (OAS) to call for the CEP to show greater flexibility in its application of electoral laws.
Initially stating its decision was final, the CEP later granted a pair of extension periods to allow for appeals. In the end, the council accepted an additional 13 candidates but none from Fanmi Lavalas.
A judge then ruled the party should be allowed to participate in the campaign but the CEP ignored the decision, arguing the court was overreaching its authority.
While the CEP insists Haitians will vote on Apr. 19, Fanmi Lavalas leaders say the elections, already more than a year behind schedule, cannot take place without their participation.
But there is another problem beyond the CEP’s intransigence: Fanmi Lavalas is a house divided. The original list of applicants included two slates claiming to represent Aristide’s party. Then, in guise of playing a mediating role between the squabbling factions, a third group sprang up during the appeal period and presented a list of its own.
There are many in Haiti who believe the CEP is doing the bidding of those who wish to keep Fanmi Lavalas outside the electoral process. Even if those charges are founded, the party’s internal feuding provides a ready-made pretext for exclusion.
Rather than settle their differences, Fanmi Lavalas representatives have vowed to keep up their legal battle, even beyond Haiti’s borders, and they have led substantial though peaceful street demonstrations in recent weeks.
Yet most Haitians have more pressing concerns than refilling 12 of the upper chamber’s 30 seats. There are few signs of relief from the high cost of living that triggered widespread rioting last April, a series of deadly storms a few months later cost the country an estimated 15 per cent of its gross domestic product, and now the global recession is impacting remittances sent back by Haitians living abroad.
There also appears to be a generalized sense of disgust with the current political class as a whole.
Still, the importance of April’s vote should not be underestimated in a fragile country where elections have often triggered instability.
As one veteran Haitian journalist put it, "it is essential for the stability of Haiti and the future of Haitian democracy that the results of the coming senatorial elections are respected and reflect the true popularity of the candidates."
But it is difficult to imagine how that outcome is possible if a major political force is absent from the ballot.
It may be too late for this election but both Fanmi Lavalas and the CEP will have to work harder to ensure the former can participate in upcoming campaigns. And if the international community really wants to see democracy in Haiti, it will have to show the same concern for inclusiveness towards Aristide as it recently has towards his orphaned party.
Otherwise, the people of Haiti will be choosing from an artificially small number of possible futures.
