Haitian elections, 2006
Encyclopedia
The 2006 elections in Haiti, to replace the interim government of Gérard Latortue
put in place after the 2004 Haiti rebellion, were delayed four times after having been originally scheduled for October and November 2005. The elections finally took place on February 7, 2006, with turnout of around 60%. All 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies of Haiti
and all 30 seats in the Senate of Haiti
were also contested. Run-off elections for the Chamber of Deputies of Haiti
were held on 21 April 2006, with around 28% turnout.
According to official statistics, René Préval
of the Lespwa
coalition led the count for President with 48.8% of the vote, less than the 50% needed to be declared elected on the first round. Préval spoke of fraud, and voting bags and marked ballots found in a garbage dump triggered street protests by his supporters. The United Nations Mission in Haiti spoke of an "apparent grave breach of the electoral process". On 16 February, following meetings between the electoral council and the interim government, it was agreed that blank ballots would be excluded from the percentage calculations, resulting in a total vote for Preval of 51.1%. A second round of voting for President was thus avoided.
decision.
The elections took place as Haiti was under the occupation of MINUSTAH, a multi-national U.N. force established by the Security Council which started operations in June 2004.
On election day, due to many organizational problems, a shortage of election workers, missing ballots, and extremely long line-ups, the voting hours were extended by at least two hours. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5600485,00.html
There are many reasons the Haitian elections were delayed. Due to a lack of funding, election officials were not able to meet the voter registration deadline set for early August. In addition there was considerable unrest in parts of Haiti, particularly the Port-au-Prince
slums where there were attacks on the new government, and where the U.N. and the Haitian National Police have been accused of committing massacres and targeted killings of anti-occupation protesters and organizers. However, the inability to register voters in the time allocated was the primary reason for the extensions. There was also concern that only 800-900 voting stations would be placed throughout Haiti, in comparison to the many thousands of stations that existed during the previous election.
On January 25, 2006, Haiti's election authorities announced that no voting stations would be placed in Cité Soleil
, an impoverished area which holds between three and six hundred thousand residents and has been controlled by informal armies professing allegiance to Aristide; registered voters from Cité Soleil had to leave their neighborhood to vote. http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article591&var_recherche=soleil%20election http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N25195815.htm
were originally scheduled to take place starting on October 9, 2005 with the municipal election, followed by national elections on November 13, 2005, and a second round on December 18. In August the electoral council decided to move the municipal elections to an undetermined date in late December to allow for more focus to be placed on meeting the (new) November 6 date for presidential elections. On September 7 the dates were again changed, this time for the presidential elections. The first round of voting was moved back to November 20 and the second round on January 3, 2006. On November 18 the date for presidential and legislative elections were postponed for the third time; they were to take place on December 27, with a run-off to be held on January 31, 2006. On November 25, the date was set back yet again, making this the fourth time total; they were to take place on January 8 and February 15, 2006, respectively. The election is being postponed yet again but a date has not yet been announced, although February 7, 2006 is reported to be the likely date for the first round. The municipal elections which were originally set to be held on December 11, 2005, have been postponed to March 5, 2006. When announced officially, they will be the fifth set of election dates for a new government since July. Originally, the hand-over of power to the elected government was set for February 7, 2006, but this date has also been pushed back, without an official new date being given.
The first round of elections for president and parliament was finally held on 7 February 2006. Runoff elections for Chamber of Deputies of Haiti
were held on April 21.
. The second polling was taken by a political consulting firm, The Democracy Group, on behalf of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, a group for the restoration of democracy in Haiti, of which Dumarsais Siméus is a member.
CID-Gallup
NOAH-TDG
, a former prime minister (1994–1995) and president (1996–2000), and a Lavalas member; Guy Philippe
, a former police chief and rebel leader of the 2004 Haiti Rebellion.
René Préval
Préval is a former president of Haiti who served from 1996 to 2000. He is the second president of Haiti to leave office due to the natural expiration of his term. Préval was in exile during the latter years of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier
but returned to work in charitable organizations after Duvalier's fall. He served as Prime Minister under Aristide during his first term, until the military coup d'état that overthrew Aristide in 1991. In 1996 he was elected president under the Fanmi Lavalas party and served out his term ending in 2001.
Under his previous administration Préval was a big reformer, most notably in the privatization of government companies, and will be expected to continue down a similar path if he is to be elected for a second term. His dealings with the International Monetary Fund
have been controversial. The unemployment rate in Haiti
was quite high under Préval's previous government, but it did fall down to some of its lowest levels since the fall of Duvalier at the end of his term and continued to fall until the rebellion of 2004.
During his campaign, he sought to distance himself from any former association with the Lavalas party and ran as a candidate of Lespwa
. Preval supports the current occupation of Haiti by U.N. forces, saying they "should stay as long as it is necessary",http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5552689,00.html in contrast to Aristide and many members of Lavalas who denounce the U.N. forces and accuse them of carrying out a campaign of repression and violence at the behest of the U.S., France, and Canada. Preval has also sought the votes of Lavalas members on the promise that he will not oppose the return of Jean Bertrand Aristide from South Africa.
Charles Henri Baker
Charles-Henry Jean-Marie Baker (b.June 3, 1955 in Port-au Prince) is a Haitian industrialist with US residency. He initially billed himself as an independent and has allied himself with the Komba de Chavannes Jean Baptiste and Evans Lescouflair party. His coalition received 8.24% of the vote. Baker is a former member of Groupe 184, a loose federation of business leaders, church officials and NGOs associated with the US federal government funded USAID and NED, opposed to the Jean-Bertrand Aristide government in 2004. Baker is widely considered the candidate of choice of Haiti's wealthy ruling class as well as the favoured candidate of the international business community.
's dictatorship. He came to power in what was an extremely low turnout, and just a few months later Manigat's government was overthrown by General Henri Namphy
. Manigat spent 23 years in exile during the reign of François Duvalier
. In 1979 he formed a political party in Caracas
with other exiled political opponents called the Rally of National Progressive Democrats. In 1987 the first attempt at a democratic election was unsuccessful as 34 people were killed. Elections were postponed until February 1988 and Manigat won with many political parties boycotting the polls. He had the backing of the military but once in office he sought greater control over the military in an effort, according to him, to crack down on corruption. Following the coup d'état by General Namphy, Manigat worked as guest scholar in Washington D.C., Paris, and Geneva.
Guy Philippe
Philippe is best known for his role in the 2004 Haiti Rebellion which overthrew the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide
due to, in part, allegations of election fraud in the 2000 parliamentary elections and other issues. Philippe's involvement can be traced back to 2000 when he was forced to flee to the Dominican Republic
after taking part in a failed coup attempt against the first administration of Rene Preval. He had been a police chief in Cap-Haïtien
when he was accused again of masterminding another coup attempt against the Aristide government in December 2001, which he denies any involvement in but proof would point otherwise. Throughout 2001-2004 Philippe is said to have worked the rebels that were running a "contra" war in the Plateau Central assassinating Lavalas officials and family members. When unrest/insurgency turned to rebellion in 2004, Philippe publicly announced that he was joining with coup forces and quickly took a leadership role, which he shared with co-leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain
, who is considered a notorious war criminal by some. After Aristide was removed from the country in a US registered plane, Philippe and his army put down their guns in favor of the UN peacekeeping force. He has also has been accused of drug dealing, and Aristide supporter group claim he is a covert CIA spy, recruited by an agent in Haiti to start the coup. It has been reported that he had secret meetings with opposition groups of Aristide in the Dominican Republic and also with a CIA agent.
On July 11, 2005, Guy Philippe announced he would run for president for the Front for National Reconstruction (FRN) party. The FRN is also his guerilla group which was involved in the rebellion of 2004. Early in 2005 the FRN became recognized as a political party. Philippe has been critical of the administration of the interim government, blaming them for the slow process of setting up registration centers throughout the country. Early on he was considered a frontrunner in the race but later fell behind the main contenders. In the end in spite of his international and local rebellion backers, and in spite of appealing to young Haitians to follow him, Phillippe won less than 1% of the vote, demonstrating that he was no popular hero and was only the leader of a false, mercenary rebel group.
Marc Bazin
Bazin is a former Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier
, and has also served as an official for the World Bank
. In the 1990 elections Bazin received 14% of the votes, losing out to Jean-Bertrand Aristide
. During the temporary coup d'état
that replaced Aristide in 1991, Bazin was selected as the Prime Minister.
Bazin is a conservative politician who has sought to bring foreign investment into Haiti. For the 2006 elections he is running in an alliance with his MIDH (Mouvement pour l'Instauration de la Démocratie en Haïti) party and the popular Fanmi Lavalas
. Bazin has been a bitter enemy of Aristide so it is somewhat surprising that this alliance has formed. There is evidence on the basis of Freedom of Information Act requests in the USA that the United States
federal budget funded International Republican Institute
(IRI) was involved in Bazin's campaign and has more generally been widely involved in organising political parties in Haiti. http://www.freehaiti.net/articles/2006/02/05/foias-reveal-iri-relationship-with-opl-and-marc-bazin
Gérard Jean-Juste
Jean-Juste is a Roman Catholic priest, Liberation theologian
and supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas
party in Port-au-Prince. He is well known for his close relations with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
. Jean-Juste is well loved by many Haitians in urban slums for the liberation theology and the support for the poor and children that he has preached. His church feeds hundreds of homeless children every day and like Aristide he has promoted a government policy of social investment in the poor.
Most recently, on July 21, 2005, he was arrested at a funeral by police in connection with the abduction and subsequent murder of journalist Jacques Roche
. While Jean-Juste was at the funeral of Roche, he was assaulted by other attendees before being placed in protective custody by the police. Later he was charged with complicity and intellectual authorship of the murder. Jean-Juste was out of the country both at the time of Roche's abduction (July 10) and the discovery of his mutilated, bullet-riddled body (July 14). On July 28, 2005 Amnesty International
named Jean-Juste a "prisoner of conscience
". Father Jean-Juste remained in prison while his files were reviewed by judges. Formal charges were made against him based upon public outcry, a strange concept of French law. He was temporarily released for medical treatment in February 2006.
In August officials of the Fanmi Lavalas party threatened to boycott the elections if Jean-Juste, and other alleged political prisoners, were not released. They believe the arrest is an effort to prevent Lavalas from once again winning in elections. In September, the party attempted to register Jean-Juste as a candidate for president, but they were denied. The provisional electoral council said that electoral law requires candidates to register in person. This situation has continued, whereas some hardline members of the party are still considering boycott, while only a few FL officials supported Marc Bazin
; though the members of the general population who identify themselves as Lavalas supporters will likely vote for René Préval
. On February 7, 2005, Jean-Juste formally endorsed Rene Preval. http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_037161543.html
Dumarsais Siméus
Siméus is a wealthy businessman, owning Simeus Foods in Fort Worth, Texas
. in the United States
. Originally he is from Pont-Sondé in Haiti, where he grew up working the land for his poor rice-farming father. Eventually they moved to the USA so that Demarsais could go to college, and he eventually graduated from Howard University
with an electrical engineering
degree. Politically, Siméus developed extensive ties to the U.S. Bush
administration, including serving on Jeb Bush
's Haiti Task Force and making major donations to the Republican Party
. His campaign manager, Robert Allyn, worked on the campaigns for George W. Bush
. Siméus declared his intention to run for president of Haiti in September 2005 as the candidate for the Tet Ansanm party.
There has been some controversy over whether or not Siméus is qualified to run for president. Under the 1987 constitution a presidential candidate must have lived in a real property that they own in Haiti for a period of five years prior to the date of election. Of course Siméus has not lived in Haiti for that length of time. The Supreme Court has ruled, now twice, that Siméus' name should be added to the ballot because he qualifies due to special circumstances, but the election officials have refused because he holds U.S. citizenship and the constitution forbids foreign nationals from running. Following the second ruling, the provisional government dismissed five justices, which many believe was done as punishment. One problem of getting Siméus on the ballot is that it would mean that elections would have to be delayed further than their scheduled January 8 date because the ballots have already been printed. Siméus responded critically to the dismissal of the justices, calling it a violation of the separation of powers.
Siméus is a popular figure with many Haitians living in the United States and Canada because he is seen as an outsider who has not (as of yet) been infected with the corruption that insiders are already a part of. Indeed this is a major part of Siméus' campaign as he says, "The politics of the last 200 years has failed. The status quo has created a cycle of poverty and violence, illiteracy and economic failure in Haiti, hurting our people, breaking our spirit, threatening the lives and futures of our brothers and sisters. In the past we have had politics of division hate, poverty and greed, politics that tear things down... now Haiti needs to make a change, heading in a new direction of unity, hope and prosperity." Due to the issues with getting on the ballot, Siméus has not had the opportunity to develop a clear strategy in his campaign, but he has touched on issues of economic recovery, providing clean water, and better health care for all. Siméus is the only known candidate who used the internet to promote his candidacy, using a web blog operated at his official site. His company Simeus Food International formerly known as TLC Beatrice Food was bought by private US investment banks that sought to capitalize on the classification of the company as a minority-owned business, he does not own a majority stake in the company, nor does he run the daily operations, he is kept as an honorary Chairman. He has publicly called for the executive members of the US installed Boniface-Latortue administration to be arrested for not letting him participate in the elections after the Haitian Court of Appeals has ruled that he was to be reinstated in the candidate roster. Gerard Latortue sidestepped the ruling by a decree that calls for a commission on nationality to meet the legal standards in the Haitian constitution that bans foreign or candidates with double nationality as is the case of Dumarsais Simeus and George Samir Mourra who are both US citizens by naturalization process. He did not support any of the running candidate since his political partner Gerard Gougues had dropped out of the race to support him, their party Tet-Ansam is a minory party in Haiti.
As the provisional electoral council announced that Preval's vote count had slipped below the 50% required to avoid a second round of voting, thousands of his supporters marched through Port Au Prince in protest at what they claimed was an effort to manipulate the vote count and suppress support for Preval. At least two of the nine electoral council members, Pierre Richard Duchemin and Patrick Fequiere, have also alleged that the vote tabulation was being manipulated. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13263370.htm http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/02/13/haiti-elxn-monday.html
Of the 2.2 million ballots cast, roughly 125,000 were declared invalid. A further 4% of the ballots were blank but were nonetheless added to the count, thereby lowering the percentage of the vote a candidate receives. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/14/ap/world/mainD8FP50IGA.shtml
During the protests, at least one man was killed and many others wounded during clashes between U.N. forces and Preval supporters. Witnesses claimed that Jordanian soldiers, who are serving as part of MINUSTAH, shot at the protesters. U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst at first denied that the U.N. soldiers had fired any shots, but then later said that the soldiers fired two "warning shots" into the air. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/13/world/main1311869_page2.shtml
Talking publicly for the first time since the voting took place, Preval said "We are convinced there was massive fraud and gross errors that affected the process,". Soon after, many hundreds (possibly thousands) of charred ballots were found in a Port-Au-Prince garbage dump. http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-15T040820Z_01_N14355245_RTRUKOC_0_UK-HAITI-ELECTION.xml&archived=False
On February 14, 2006, the interim government ordered a halt to the publication of full election results pending an inquiry into the alleged electoral fraud. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4713802.stm
The second round of legislative elections was scheduled for March 19, 2006, but the government of interim president Boniface Alexandre
announced on March 16 that it would be postponed until April 21. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20060315T210000-0500_100713_OBS_HAITI_SCHEDULES_LEGISLATIVE_RUN_OFF_ELECTION_APRIL___.asp
Gérard Latortue
Gérard Latortue was the Prime Minister of Haïti from March 12, 2004 to June 9, 2006. He was an official in the United Nations for many years, and briefly served as foreign minister of Haïti during the short-lived 1988 administration of Leslie Manigat.In February 2004, the country suffered a coup...
put in place after the 2004 Haiti rebellion, were delayed four times after having been originally scheduled for October and November 2005. The elections finally took place on February 7, 2006, with turnout of around 60%. All 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies of Haiti
Chamber of Deputies of Haïti
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of Haiti's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The upper house of the National Assembly is the Senate of Haiti. The Chamber has ninety-nine members who are elected by popular vote to four-year terms...
and all 30 seats in the Senate of Haiti
Senate of Haiti
The Senate of Haiti is the upper house of Haiti's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The lower house of the National Assembly is the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate consists of thirty seats, with three members from each of the ten administrative departments. Prior to the creation of the...
were also contested. Run-off elections for the Chamber of Deputies of Haiti
Chamber of Deputies of Haïti
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of Haiti's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The upper house of the National Assembly is the Senate of Haiti. The Chamber has ninety-nine members who are elected by popular vote to four-year terms...
were held on 21 April 2006, with around 28% turnout.
According to official statistics, René Préval
René Préval
René Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
of the Lespwa
Lespwa
Fwon Lespwa is a Haitian political coalition headed by René Préval, who served as president from 1996 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2011. The name Lespwa is the Haitian Creole form of the French l'espoir, meaning "hope". The coalition's full French name is Front de l'Espoir...
coalition led the count for President with 48.8% of the vote, less than the 50% needed to be declared elected on the first round. Préval spoke of fraud, and voting bags and marked ballots found in a garbage dump triggered street protests by his supporters. The United Nations Mission in Haiti spoke of an "apparent grave breach of the electoral process". On 16 February, following meetings between the electoral council and the interim government, it was agreed that blank ballots would be excluded from the percentage calculations, resulting in a total vote for Preval of 51.1%. A second round of voting for President was thus avoided.
Campaign
The election process saw many controversies, including threats to boycott by one of the major political parties, ongoing political violence, and one candidate being declared ineligible despite a Supreme CourtSupreme Court of Haiti
The Supreme Court of Haiti is the highest court in the Haitian legal system. The Supreme Court building is located in Port-au-Prince.-Composition:...
decision.
The elections took place as Haiti was under the occupation of MINUSTAH, a multi-national U.N. force established by the Security Council which started operations in June 2004.
On election day, due to many organizational problems, a shortage of election workers, missing ballots, and extremely long line-ups, the voting hours were extended by at least two hours. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5600485,00.html
There are many reasons the Haitian elections were delayed. Due to a lack of funding, election officials were not able to meet the voter registration deadline set for early August. In addition there was considerable unrest in parts of Haiti, particularly the Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
slums where there were attacks on the new government, and where the U.N. and the Haitian National Police have been accused of committing massacres and targeted killings of anti-occupation protesters and organizers. However, the inability to register voters in the time allocated was the primary reason for the extensions. There was also concern that only 800-900 voting stations would be placed throughout Haiti, in comparison to the many thousands of stations that existed during the previous election.
On January 25, 2006, Haiti's election authorities announced that no voting stations would be placed in Cité Soleil
Cité Soleil
Cité Soleil is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. Cité Soleil originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 residents, the majority of whom live in extreme poverty...
, an impoverished area which holds between three and six hundred thousand residents and has been controlled by informal armies professing allegiance to Aristide; registered voters from Cité Soleil had to leave their neighborhood to vote. http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article591&var_recherche=soleil%20election http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N25195815.htm
Delays
Elections in HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
were originally scheduled to take place starting on October 9, 2005 with the municipal election, followed by national elections on November 13, 2005, and a second round on December 18. In August the electoral council decided to move the municipal elections to an undetermined date in late December to allow for more focus to be placed on meeting the (new) November 6 date for presidential elections. On September 7 the dates were again changed, this time for the presidential elections. The first round of voting was moved back to November 20 and the second round on January 3, 2006. On November 18 the date for presidential and legislative elections were postponed for the third time; they were to take place on December 27, with a run-off to be held on January 31, 2006. On November 25, the date was set back yet again, making this the fourth time total; they were to take place on January 8 and February 15, 2006, respectively. The election is being postponed yet again but a date has not yet been announced, although February 7, 2006 is reported to be the likely date for the first round. The municipal elections which were originally set to be held on December 11, 2005, have been postponed to March 5, 2006. When announced officially, they will be the fifth set of election dates for a new government since July. Originally, the hand-over of power to the elected government was set for February 7, 2006, but this date has also been pushed back, without an official new date being given.
The first round of elections for president and parliament was finally held on 7 February 2006. Runoff elections for Chamber of Deputies of Haiti
Chamber of Deputies of Haïti
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of Haiti's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The upper house of the National Assembly is the Senate of Haiti. The Chamber has ninety-nine members who are elected by popular vote to four-year terms...
were held on April 21.
Opinion Polls
Two opinion polls were taken in November 2005. The first to be released was the poll taken by CID Gallup, a Latin American polling group with close ties to U.S. based GallupThe Gallup Organization
The Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...
. The second polling was taken by a political consulting firm, The Democracy Group, on behalf of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, a group for the restoration of democracy in Haiti, of which Dumarsais Siméus is a member.
CID-Gallup
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| René Préval | Lespwa Lespwa Fwon Lespwa is a Haitian political coalition headed by René Préval, who served as president from 1996 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2011. The name Lespwa is the Haitian Creole form of the French l'espoir, meaning "hope". The coalition's full French name is Front de l'Espoir... |
384 | 32% |
| Dumarsais Siméus | Tet Ansanm | 252 | 21% |
| Leslie Manigat | RDNP | 60 | 5% |
| Marc Bazin | MIDH | 48 | 4% |
| Serge Gilles | Fusion des Sociaux-démocrates | 48 | 4% |
| Evans Paul | Democratic Alliance | 48 | 4% |
| Guy Philippe | FRN | 48 | 4% |
| Charles Henri Baker | Independent | 24 | 2% |
| Dany Toussaint | MODEREH | 24 | 2% |
| Other | -- | 264 | 22% |
| Totals | 1,200 |
NOAH-TDG
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dumarsais Siméus | Tet Ansanm | -- | 34% |
| René Préval | Lespwa | -- | 30% |
| Charles-Henry Baker | Independent | -- | 7% |
| Marc Bazin | MIDH | -- | 5% |
| Evans Paul | Democratic Alliance | -- | 5% |
| Other | -- | -- | 19% |
| Totals | -- |
Presidential candidates
Thirty five presidential candidates appeared in the ballot. Among the more known figures were René PrévalRené Préval
René Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
, a former prime minister (1994–1995) and president (1996–2000), and a Lavalas member; Guy Philippe
Guy Philippe
Guy Philippe is a Haitian politician. When Jean-Claude Duvalier was toppled in 1986, he was 17 years old which makes claims that he was an alleged former Tonton Macoute leaderpreposterous. he lead the 2004 Haitian rebellion that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide and he was a presidential candidate in...
, a former police chief and rebel leader of the 2004 Haiti Rebellion.
René PrévalRené PrévalRené Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
Préval is a former president of Haiti who served from 1996 to 2000. He is the second president of Haiti to leave office due to the natural expiration of his term. Préval was in exile during the latter years of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude DuvalierJean-Claude Duvalier
Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed "Bébé Doc" or "Baby Doc" was the President of Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow by a popular uprising in 1986. He succeeded his father, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, as the ruler of Haiti upon his father's death in 1971...
but returned to work in charitable organizations after Duvalier's fall. He served as Prime Minister under Aristide during his first term, until the military coup d'état that overthrew Aristide in 1991. In 1996 he was elected president under the Fanmi Lavalas party and served out his term ending in 2001.
Under his previous administration Préval was a big reformer, most notably in the privatization of government companies, and will be expected to continue down a similar path if he is to be elected for a second term. His dealings with the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
have been controversial. The unemployment rate in Haiti
Economy of Haiti
Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agriculture sector, mainly small-scale subsistence farming, and remain vulnerable to damage from frequent natural disasters, exacerbated by the country's widespread deforestation...
was quite high under Préval's previous government, but it did fall down to some of its lowest levels since the fall of Duvalier at the end of his term and continued to fall until the rebellion of 2004.
During his campaign, he sought to distance himself from any former association with the Lavalas party and ran as a candidate of Lespwa
Lespwa
Fwon Lespwa is a Haitian political coalition headed by René Préval, who served as president from 1996 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2011. The name Lespwa is the Haitian Creole form of the French l'espoir, meaning "hope". The coalition's full French name is Front de l'Espoir...
. Preval supports the current occupation of Haiti by U.N. forces, saying they "should stay as long as it is necessary",http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5552689,00.html in contrast to Aristide and many members of Lavalas who denounce the U.N. forces and accuse them of carrying out a campaign of repression and violence at the behest of the U.S., France, and Canada. Preval has also sought the votes of Lavalas members on the promise that he will not oppose the return of Jean Bertrand Aristide from South Africa.
Charles Henri BakerCharles Henri BakerCharles-Henri Jean-Marie Baker is a Haitian industrialist and Presidential Candidate. He is a former Vice President of the Group of 184. Baker was a candidate for president in Haiti's 2006 and 2010 elections.-Early life:...
Charles-Henry Jean-Marie Baker (b.June 3, 1955 in Port-au Prince) is a Haitian industrialist with US residency. He initially billed himself as an independent and has allied himself with the Komba de Chavannes Jean Baptiste and Evans Lescouflair party. His coalition received 8.24% of the vote. Baker is a former member of Groupe 184, a loose federation of business leaders, church officials and NGOs associated with the US federal government funded USAID and NED, opposed to the Jean-Bertrand Aristide government in 2004. Baker is widely considered the candidate of choice of Haiti's wealthy ruling class as well as the favoured candidate of the international business community.Leslie François Manigat
Manigat received 12.40% of the vote in 2006. He was previously elected President in 1988 under a corrupt military run election after the fall of Jean-Claude DuvalierJean-Claude Duvalier
Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed "Bébé Doc" or "Baby Doc" was the President of Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow by a popular uprising in 1986. He succeeded his father, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, as the ruler of Haiti upon his father's death in 1971...
's dictatorship. He came to power in what was an extremely low turnout, and just a few months later Manigat's government was overthrown by General Henri Namphy
Henri Namphy
Henri Namphy was a Haitian general and political figure. He served as President of Haiti's interim ruling body, the National Council of Government, from 7 February 1986 to 7 February 1988...
. Manigat spent 23 years in exile during the reign of François Duvalier
François Duvalier
François Duvalier was the President of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. Duvalier first won acclaim in fighting diseases, earning him the nickname "Papa Doc" . He opposed a military coup d'état in 1950, and was elected President in 1957 on a populist and black nationalist platform...
. In 1979 he formed a political party in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
with other exiled political opponents called the Rally of National Progressive Democrats. In 1987 the first attempt at a democratic election was unsuccessful as 34 people were killed. Elections were postponed until February 1988 and Manigat won with many political parties boycotting the polls. He had the backing of the military but once in office he sought greater control over the military in an effort, according to him, to crack down on corruption. Following the coup d'état by General Namphy, Manigat worked as guest scholar in Washington D.C., Paris, and Geneva.
Guy PhilippeGuy PhilippeGuy Philippe is a Haitian politician. When Jean-Claude Duvalier was toppled in 1986, he was 17 years old which makes claims that he was an alleged former Tonton Macoute leaderpreposterous. he lead the 2004 Haitian rebellion that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide and he was a presidential candidate in...
Philippe is best known for his role in the 2004 Haiti Rebellion which overthrew the government of Jean-Bertrand AristideJean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
due to, in part, allegations of election fraud in the 2000 parliamentary elections and other issues. Philippe's involvement can be traced back to 2000 when he was forced to flee to the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
after taking part in a failed coup attempt against the first administration of Rene Preval. He had been a police chief in Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien is a city of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Department of Nord...
when he was accused again of masterminding another coup attempt against the Aristide government in December 2001, which he denies any involvement in but proof would point otherwise. Throughout 2001-2004 Philippe is said to have worked the rebels that were running a "contra" war in the Plateau Central assassinating Lavalas officials and family members. When unrest/insurgency turned to rebellion in 2004, Philippe publicly announced that he was joining with coup forces and quickly took a leadership role, which he shared with co-leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain
Louis-Jodel Chamblain
Louis-Jodel Chamblain is a military leader in Haïti who has led both government troops and rebels, and is considered a notorious war criminal....
, who is considered a notorious war criminal by some. After Aristide was removed from the country in a US registered plane, Philippe and his army put down their guns in favor of the UN peacekeeping force. He has also has been accused of drug dealing, and Aristide supporter group claim he is a covert CIA spy, recruited by an agent in Haiti to start the coup. It has been reported that he had secret meetings with opposition groups of Aristide in the Dominican Republic and also with a CIA agent.
On July 11, 2005, Guy Philippe announced he would run for president for the Front for National Reconstruction (FRN) party. The FRN is also his guerilla group which was involved in the rebellion of 2004. Early in 2005 the FRN became recognized as a political party. Philippe has been critical of the administration of the interim government, blaming them for the slow process of setting up registration centers throughout the country. Early on he was considered a frontrunner in the race but later fell behind the main contenders. In the end in spite of his international and local rebellion backers, and in spite of appealing to young Haitians to follow him, Phillippe won less than 1% of the vote, demonstrating that he was no popular hero and was only the leader of a false, mercenary rebel group.
Marc BazinMarc BazinMarc Louis Bazin was a World Bank official, former United Nations functionary and Haïtian Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier...
Bazin is a former Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude DuvalierJean-Claude Duvalier
Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed "Bébé Doc" or "Baby Doc" was the President of Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow by a popular uprising in 1986. He succeeded his father, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, as the ruler of Haiti upon his father's death in 1971...
, and has also served as an official for the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
. In the 1990 elections Bazin received 14% of the votes, losing out to Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
. During the temporary coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
that replaced Aristide in 1991, Bazin was selected as the Prime Minister.
Bazin is a conservative politician who has sought to bring foreign investment into Haiti. For the 2006 elections he is running in an alliance with his MIDH (Mouvement pour l'Instauration de la Démocratie en Haïti) party and the popular Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas is a leftist political party in Haiti. Its leader is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It has been a powerful force in Haitian politics since 1991. Fanmi Lavalas governments supported a policy of "growth with equity" based on Caribbean and Western European social...
. Bazin has been a bitter enemy of Aristide so it is somewhat surprising that this alliance has formed. There is evidence on the basis of Freedom of Information Act requests in the USA that the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
federal budget funded International Republican Institute
International Republican Institute
Founded in 1983, the International Republican Institute is an organization, funded by the United States government, that conducts international political programs, sometimes labeled 'democratization programs'....
(IRI) was involved in Bazin's campaign and has more generally been widely involved in organising political parties in Haiti. http://www.freehaiti.net/articles/2006/02/05/foias-reveal-iri-relationship-with-opl-and-marc-bazin
Gérard Jean-JusteGérard Jean-JusteFr. Gérard Jean-Juste was a Roman Catholic priest and rector of Saint Claire's church for the poor in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was also a liberation theologian and a supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas political party, the largest in Haiti. In 1978, Father Jean-Juste founded the Haitian Refugee Center...
Jean-Juste is a Roman Catholic priest, Liberation theologianLiberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
and supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas is a leftist political party in Haiti. Its leader is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It has been a powerful force in Haitian politics since 1991. Fanmi Lavalas governments supported a policy of "growth with equity" based on Caribbean and Western European social...
party in Port-au-Prince. He is well known for his close relations with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
. Jean-Juste is well loved by many Haitians in urban slums for the liberation theology and the support for the poor and children that he has preached. His church feeds hundreds of homeless children every day and like Aristide he has promoted a government policy of social investment in the poor.
Most recently, on July 21, 2005, he was arrested at a funeral by police in connection with the abduction and subsequent murder of journalist Jacques Roche
Jacques Roche
Jacques Roche was a prominent journalist and poet of Haiti. He was kidnapped on July 11, 2005, and was found dead on July 14, 2005. Television footage showed him tied to a chair and mutilated. Police say he was tortured, his tongue cut out, then shot....
. While Jean-Juste was at the funeral of Roche, he was assaulted by other attendees before being placed in protective custody by the police. Later he was charged with complicity and intellectual authorship of the murder. Jean-Juste was out of the country both at the time of Roche's abduction (July 10) and the discovery of his mutilated, bullet-riddled body (July 14). On July 28, 2005 Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
named Jean-Juste a "prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...
". Father Jean-Juste remained in prison while his files were reviewed by judges. Formal charges were made against him based upon public outcry, a strange concept of French law. He was temporarily released for medical treatment in February 2006.
In August officials of the Fanmi Lavalas party threatened to boycott the elections if Jean-Juste, and other alleged political prisoners, were not released. They believe the arrest is an effort to prevent Lavalas from once again winning in elections. In September, the party attempted to register Jean-Juste as a candidate for president, but they were denied. The provisional electoral council said that electoral law requires candidates to register in person. This situation has continued, whereas some hardline members of the party are still considering boycott, while only a few FL officials supported Marc Bazin
Marc Bazin
Marc Louis Bazin was a World Bank official, former United Nations functionary and Haïtian Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier...
; though the members of the general population who identify themselves as Lavalas supporters will likely vote for René Préval
René Préval
René Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
. On February 7, 2005, Jean-Juste formally endorsed Rene Preval. http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_037161543.html
Dumarsais SiméusDumarsais SimeusDumarsais Mécène Siméus , born in 1939, is a Haitian-born and U.S. naturalized businessman from Texas. Simeus returned to Haiti to be a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections.-Early life:...
Siméus is a wealthy businessman, owning Simeus Foods in Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
. in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Originally he is from Pont-Sondé in Haiti, where he grew up working the land for his poor rice-farming father. Eventually they moved to the USA so that Demarsais could go to college, and he eventually graduated from Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
with an electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
degree. Politically, Siméus developed extensive ties to the U.S. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
administration, including serving on Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
's Haiti Task Force and making major donations to the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. His campaign manager, Robert Allyn, worked on the campaigns for George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. Siméus declared his intention to run for president of Haiti in September 2005 as the candidate for the Tet Ansanm party.
There has been some controversy over whether or not Siméus is qualified to run for president. Under the 1987 constitution a presidential candidate must have lived in a real property that they own in Haiti for a period of five years prior to the date of election. Of course Siméus has not lived in Haiti for that length of time. The Supreme Court has ruled, now twice, that Siméus' name should be added to the ballot because he qualifies due to special circumstances, but the election officials have refused because he holds U.S. citizenship and the constitution forbids foreign nationals from running. Following the second ruling, the provisional government dismissed five justices, which many believe was done as punishment. One problem of getting Siméus on the ballot is that it would mean that elections would have to be delayed further than their scheduled January 8 date because the ballots have already been printed. Siméus responded critically to the dismissal of the justices, calling it a violation of the separation of powers.
Siméus is a popular figure with many Haitians living in the United States and Canada because he is seen as an outsider who has not (as of yet) been infected with the corruption that insiders are already a part of. Indeed this is a major part of Siméus' campaign as he says, "The politics of the last 200 years has failed. The status quo has created a cycle of poverty and violence, illiteracy and economic failure in Haiti, hurting our people, breaking our spirit, threatening the lives and futures of our brothers and sisters. In the past we have had politics of division hate, poverty and greed, politics that tear things down... now Haiti needs to make a change, heading in a new direction of unity, hope and prosperity." Due to the issues with getting on the ballot, Siméus has not had the opportunity to develop a clear strategy in his campaign, but he has touched on issues of economic recovery, providing clean water, and better health care for all. Siméus is the only known candidate who used the internet to promote his candidacy, using a web blog operated at his official site. His company Simeus Food International formerly known as TLC Beatrice Food was bought by private US investment banks that sought to capitalize on the classification of the company as a minority-owned business, he does not own a majority stake in the company, nor does he run the daily operations, he is kept as an honorary Chairman. He has publicly called for the executive members of the US installed Boniface-Latortue administration to be arrested for not letting him participate in the elections after the Haitian Court of Appeals has ruled that he was to be reinstated in the candidate roster. Gerard Latortue sidestepped the ruling by a decree that calls for a commission on nationality to meet the legal standards in the Haitian constitution that bans foreign or candidates with double nationality as is the case of Dumarsais Simeus and George Samir Mourra who are both US citizens by naturalization process. He did not support any of the running candidate since his political partner Gerard Gougues had dropped out of the race to support him, their party Tet-Ansam is a minory party in Haiti.
Full List of President Candidates
- Charles Henri BakerCharles Henri BakerCharles-Henri Jean-Marie Baker is a Haitian industrialist and Presidential Candidate. He is a former Vice President of the Group of 184. Baker was a candidate for president in Haiti's 2006 and 2010 elections.-Early life:...
- Independent - Marc BazinMarc BazinMarc Louis Bazin was a World Bank official, former United Nations functionary and Haïtian Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier...
- MIDH - Jacques Ronald Belot - Independent
- Bonivert ClaudeBonivert ClaudeBonivert Claude is a former governor of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti and a presidential candidate in the 2000 and 2006 Haitian elections.-Education:...
- PTH - Paul Denis - Organisation du Peuple en Lutte
- Hubert de Ronceray - Grand Front Centre Droit (GFCD)
- Rigaud DuplanRigaud DuplanJoseph Rigaud Duplan was a 2006 candidate for president of Haiti running for the political party Plate-forme Justice pour la Paix et le Development National . He was the most popular of the candidates in Haiti who did not advertise on TV or radio. Currently he works as an attorney in his own law...
- PJPDN - Reynold Georges - ALAH
- Serge GillesSerge GillesSerge Gilles is the leader of the Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats political party. He spent 25 years in overseas exile before returning to Haiti in 1986. He became the leader of the Fusion party in 2005 and was fielded as their candidate for President but lost to René Préval.-Private...
- Fusion des Sociaux-démocrates - Gérard Gourgue - Movement for United Democracy
- Chavannes JeuneChavannes JeuneChavannes Jeune is an influential Haitian Christian leader, pastor and evangelist, and an unsuccessful candidate for President of Haiti in 2005....
- Union for the Reconstruction of Haiti - Leslie ManigatLeslie ManigatLeslie François Saint Roc Manigat was elected president of Haiti by a tightly controlled military held election in January 1988.-In education:...
- RDNP - Luc MesadieuLuc MesadieuLuc Mesadieu is a Haitian political figure and member of the political party New Christian Movement for a New Haiti . Mesadieu has been a political opponent of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He has been attacked in his home in December 2003 by thugs associated with Aristide,...
- Mouvement Chrétien Pour Une Nouvelle Haiti MoChreNHA - Samir Georges Mourra - MPH
- Evans Nicolas - Union for the Reconstruction of Haiti
- Evans PaulEvans PaulEvans Paul, called K-plimo, is a Haitian politician and former president of the Democratic United Committee . He was elected mayor of Port-au-Prince in the 1990 elections that brought Jean-Bertrand Aristide's National Front for Change and Democracy party to power...
- Democratic AllianceDemocratic Alliance-Current political parties:* Democratic Alliance * Democratic Alliance * Democratic Alliance * Democratic Alliance * Democratic Alliance * Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong... - Guy PhilippeGuy PhilippeGuy Philippe is a Haitian politician. When Jean-Claude Duvalier was toppled in 1986, he was 17 years old which makes claims that he was an alleged former Tonton Macoute leaderpreposterous. he lead the 2004 Haitian rebellion that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide and he was a presidential candidate in...
- FLNNational Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of HaitiThe National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haïti is a rebel group in Haïti that controlled most of the country following the 2004 Haiti Rebellion... - René PrévalRené PrévalRené Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
- Independent - Himmler Rebu - GREH
- Franck Romain - PACAPALAH
- Dany ToussaintDany ToussaintDany Toussaint was a candidate in the February 2006 presidential election in Haiti. Toussaint is a former Haitian Army major, police chief and bodyguard of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He is a former Senator and leader of the Haitian Democratic and Reformist Movement Party...
- MODEREH
Allegations of vote manipulation
Although Preval's vote count was initially over 60% of the total—in an election marred by declarations of invalid votes, allegations of fraud, errors and the discovery of perhaps thousands of ballots dumped and burned in Port-Au-Prince—election officials of the interim government ordered a halt to the publication of full election results pending an inquiry into possible electoral fraud. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4713802.stmAs the provisional electoral council announced that Preval's vote count had slipped below the 50% required to avoid a second round of voting, thousands of his supporters marched through Port Au Prince in protest at what they claimed was an effort to manipulate the vote count and suppress support for Preval. At least two of the nine electoral council members, Pierre Richard Duchemin and Patrick Fequiere, have also alleged that the vote tabulation was being manipulated. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13263370.htm http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/02/13/haiti-elxn-monday.html
Of the 2.2 million ballots cast, roughly 125,000 were declared invalid. A further 4% of the ballots were blank but were nonetheless added to the count, thereby lowering the percentage of the vote a candidate receives. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/14/ap/world/mainD8FP50IGA.shtml
During the protests, at least one man was killed and many others wounded during clashes between U.N. forces and Preval supporters. Witnesses claimed that Jordanian soldiers, who are serving as part of MINUSTAH, shot at the protesters. U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst at first denied that the U.N. soldiers had fired any shots, but then later said that the soldiers fired two "warning shots" into the air. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/13/world/main1311869_page2.shtml
Talking publicly for the first time since the voting took place, Preval said "We are convinced there was massive fraud and gross errors that affected the process,". Soon after, many hundreds (possibly thousands) of charred ballots were found in a Port-Au-Prince garbage dump. http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-15T040820Z_01_N14355245_RTRUKOC_0_UK-HAITI-ELECTION.xml&archived=False
On February 14, 2006, the interim government ordered a halt to the publication of full election results pending an inquiry into the alleged electoral fraud. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4713802.stm
Legislative elections
The first round of legislative elections took place concurrently with the presidential election.The second round of legislative elections was scheduled for March 19, 2006, but the government of interim president Boniface Alexandre
Boniface Alexandre
Boniface Alexandre is a politician in Haïti. He served as acting president of Haïti from 2004 to 2006. The 2004 Haitian coup d'état removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from the Americas on February 29, 2004...
announced on March 16 that it would be postponed until April 21. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20060315T210000-0500_100713_OBS_HAITI_SCHEDULES_LEGISLATIVE_RUN_OFF_ELECTION_APRIL___.asp
Footnotes
External links
- Right Result, For the Wrong Reason, JURISTJURISTJURIST is an online legal news service hosted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, powered by a staff of more than 40 law students working in Pittsburgh and other US locations under the direction of founding Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Professor Bernard Hibbitts, Research Director Jaclyn...