March 18, 2010
TIME reports today on the difficulties of holding elections in Haiti after the earthquake. The article notes many of the logistical problems such as voting rolls and voter ID cards, as well as the importance for the legitimacy of the government. TIME, however, fails to note that there were serious problems with the planned legislative elections. Previous articles on elections have also failed to address these problems.
15 political parties were excluded from participating in the planned February election. The Provisional Electoral Council’s arbitrary exclusions included Fanmi Lavalas, the overwhelmingly largest and the most popular party in Haiti. Furthermore, the are constitutional issues with regards to the Provisional Electoral Council’s legitimacy. 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. This is especially troubling since opponents of Preval’s INITE coalition were being excluded from the electoral process while INITE was not. Before the earthquake there had already been widespread anger with the decision.
Elsewhere, Xinhua reports that:
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said here Wednesday that Haiti was considering holding presidential and legislative elections between November this year and February 2011.
Whenever it is that the elections take place, it is imperative that they are fully inclusive.
