Haiti: election scepticism

AlterPresse www.alterpresse.org

Port-au-Prince, 10 November 2005 –

(…) the election campaign continues, and public discussion is centred more and more on the prospects of the polls taking place. However, certain sectors express little interest in the next elections that will be held in a context described as an “occupation”. For them, it is very unlikely that the elections will lead to a real advance in democracy and an improvement in the living conditions of the underprivileged population.

On 3 November, during the 3rd Summit of the People at Mar del Plata (Argentina), the director of the Karl Lévêque Cultural Institute (ICKL), Marc Arthur Fils-Aimé, denounced the situation of Haiti on the eve of elections under foreign “military occupation”.

What it is necessary for Haiti is “true independence” with a government that exercises power according to the people’s demands, “without visible or invisible limitations imposed by the United States”, Fils-Aimé asserted. He pointed a finger at the presumed involvement of the United States in the preparation of the next elections.

The reservations and criticisms of peasant leader

Sylvain Jean, a leader of the peasant organisation, Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan, has expressed his reservations about the holding of elections in Haiti in the current context. In an exclusive interview with AlterPresse, Jean announced the position of this national movement representing peasants in eight of the 10 geographical departments of the country.

“The country’s current situation is not favourable to the holding of elections”, declared the organisation’s leader, referring to the worsening socio-economic situation and the presence of United Nations troops in Haiti.

“In seeking a consensus on achieving the country’s revival, we must first of all consider the disguised occupation of our country “, stated Jean.

“At the level of Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan, we are neither near to nor far from being involved in electoral activities”, stressed the militant, who is a member of the organisation’s national coordination.

Sylvain Jean denied the rumour of a possible alliance between Tèt Kole and the Espoir (Espwa) platform, which supports the candidature of ex-president René Préval. “It is completely impossible for Tèt Kole to be involved in a political alliance” and the rules of the organisation do not allow it, he said.

The peasant leader recognised however that members of Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan scattered over eight departments of the country are susceptible to being courted by political groups because of the mobilising force that the peasant sector represents.

Jean denounced certain political alliances* which, according to him, go against the principal demands of the underprivileged sectors of the country, especially the peasant sector.

“These alliances against nature involving certain fringes of the peasant sector will be prejudicial to the country’s future, and will reinforce the exclusion of the most disadvantaged members of society,” he warned.

[*Editor’s note: Sylvain Jean may be referring to the presidential candidatures of Charles Henri Baker and Marc Bazin: Assembly plant owner and Group of 184 leader, Charles Henri Baker, is backed by the party of MPP leader, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste. Former World Bank employee and coup regime prime minister in 1992, Marc Bazin, is now allied with the Lavalas Family party.]

Translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group

_______________________

Forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group – solidarity with the Haitian people’s struggle for human rights, participatory democracy and equitable development – since 1992.

Web site: http://www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org