LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Haiti: Elections
built 235 days ago
The occasion, as Jim Zwick points out in a lucid essay on Haiti and the anti-imperialist tradition, was the election of 1920, when Roosevelt was running for vice president. It was, remarks Zwick, "one of the more notable gaffes of the campaign."
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Desperate for anything that might cast aspersions on the overwhelmingly popular Lavalas party, and to bolster their destabilization efforts, the “opposition” with help from their “friends of Haiti,” proceeded to blow this minor instance out of proportion. The head of the CEP (Provisional Electoral Council), Leon Manus, was evidently in on the destabilization plan, as he was reportedly involved in the Oct. 17 attempt - by seven School of the Americas-trained paramilitaries, including Guy Philippe - to overthrow President Preval before the November elections."
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The UN denied allegations from witnesses that peacekeepers from the UN Mission in Haiti opened fire on a crowd of protesters demanding Rene Preval be declared the winner of the presidential election. Protesters alleged the electoral commission manipulated the vote count to prevent Preval, an ally of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and opposed by the wealthy elite, from winning a first-round victory. Two members of the nine-member commission that oversees the elections called for an investigation, claiming they were denied access to information about the tabulation process.
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It should be noted that Haiti, after many decades of military dictatorship, harbored a deep desire for democratic elections. However, the candidates offered in 1990 did little to increase voter registration. After Aristide announced his candidacy, the country became interested in the race and by election time over 80% of possible voters were registered. Aristide was elected by 67% of the vote.
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This Caribseek Caribbean News article sees great wisdom in President Rene Preval’s leadership of Haiti since returning to power, especially in including in his new cabinet members of various parties that competed in the last election. Preval sees integration and reconciliation among Haiti’s communities as necessary for stability and peace, and the author believes that the eclectic nature of the cabinet can help achieve these minimal goals.
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Apathy, rampant political opportunism and an uncritical media have combined to let most of the politicians off the hook on Haiti. The one significant exception was Pierre Pettigrew, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who lost his seat, his re-election campaign having been targeted by activists exposing his complicity in war crimes in Haiti. But what about the rest of the Canadian politicians, military leaders, and some of the compromised NGO staffers who have all been complicit in this latest denial of Haitian democracy and self-determination?
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