News
and opinions on situation in Haiti |
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| 20/2/06 |
Jacques Bernard, the Electoral Council’s director accused of stuffing ballots with blank votes, flees Haiti – Haiti Election Chief Flees Country | Le directeur exécutif de l’organisme 'lectoral’ quitte le pays à la cloche de bois cloche (also HLLN English translation) |
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Recommended Link: *********post in this e-mail************************** – Unofficial HLLN Translation of AHP Feb. 20, 2006 report: Jacques Bernard, Executive Director of Haiti’s Electoral Council flees Haiti – On Jacques Bernard: Ezili Danto Witness Project Recorded Report Direct From Haiti, Feb. 20, 2006 – Excerpt Translated from Kreyol recording into English, Feb. 20, 2006 – Le directeur exécutif de l’organisme électoral ha’tien quitte le pays – la cloche de bois. AHP, Feb. 20, 2006 – Haiti Election Chief Flees Country, AP, Feb. 20, 2006 ******************************************************* ===Unofficial HLLN Translation of AHP report:Jacques Bernard’s flees Haiti===== Haitian Electoral Council’s Executive Director Quietly Leaves the Country Port-au-Prince, 20 Février 2006- (AHP)- Haitian Electoral Council’s executive director, Jacques Bernard, discreetly left the country, this Wednesday, for the United States. Mr. Bernard who has been accused of fraudulent activities in the realm of the Haitian presidential elections vote count, left without advising members of the electoral council. ‘One may say that we are witnessing an escape’, said council member Gerson Richemé while announcing the initiation of an investigation of Mr. ‘His departure will have no effect on the council’s continuing work, since he was an agent of division’, said Mr. Richemé, adding that the 9 CEP members where discussing his replacement. Bernard who was keeping a low profile since the announcement of Lespwa candidate René Préval’s victory, on Saturday, accused two members of the electoral council of threatening him. Council member Patrick Féquiére, at the time retorted that Jacques Bernard was a joker and a liar trying to divert the people’s attention away from his fraudulent activities. Sources close to the CEP let it be known that Jacques Bernard undoubtedly left to avoid answering accusations leveled against him. Mr. Bernard is most notably accused as well of being implicated in stuffing ballot boxes with blank votes and also in reference to the matter of the thousands of votes and official reports discovered in a garbage dump to the North of the capital prior to the proclamation of the results. In his radio intervention Saturday, Jacques Bernard mentioned as well that one of his farms in the commune of Thomazeau had been ransacked. Many inhabitants of the area let it be known that people close to the family, aware of Mr. Bernard’s troubles, took the opportunity to loot the farm. They also mentioned that Jacques Bernard was among those who have been managing the estate of the now dead former entrepreneur and politician, Thomas Désulmé. AHP 20 février 2006 4:20 PM | Unofficial translation. ************************************* Le directeur exécutif de l’organisme électoral ha’tien quitte le pays – la cloche de bois Port-auPrince, 20 février 2006- (AHP)- Le directeur exécutif du conseil electoral ha’tien Jacques Bernard a quitté le pays discrétement ce mercredi – destination des Etats-Unis. M. Bernard qui fait l’objet de graves accusations de fraudes dans le décompte des voix aux présidentielles ha’tiennes est parti sans avoir prévenu les conseillers électoraux. “On pourrait dire qu’il s’agit d’une fuite, a dit le conseiller Gerson Richemé qui annonce l’ouverture d’une enquÍte sur la gestion de M. Bernard qui n’a laissé derriére lui aucun dossier. Son départ n’aura aucune incidence sur la poursuite du processus électoral puisqu’il était plutÙt un facteur de division”, a dit Richemé, ajoutant que les 9 membres du CEP étaient en discussion pour pourvoir – son remplacement. Bernard qui gardait un profil bas depuis la proclamatiion e la victoire du candidat de l’Espoir René Préval, accusait samedi 2 conseillers électoraux d’avoir proferé des menaces contre sa personne. Le conseiller Patrick Féquiére avait alors rétorquué en accusant – son tour Jacques Bernard de farceur et de menteur cherchant – detourner l’attentiion de la population de ses magouilles. Des sources proches du CEP ont fait savoir que Jacques Berrnard est sans doute parti pour ne pas avoir – répondre des acccusations qui pésent contrre lui M. Bernard est également accusé notamment d’implication dans les bourrages d’urnes avec des votes blancs et dans le dossier des milliers de bulletins de votes et procés-verbaux découverts dans une décharge au nord de la capitale avant la prroclamattion ds résultats. Dans son intervention samedi – la radio, Jacques Bernad a également fait état de la mise – sac d’une de ses fermes dans la commune de Thomazeau. Plusieurs habitants de la région ont fait savoir que ce sont des gens proche de sa famille qui sont – la base de l’opération, le sachant en difficulté. Ils ont également fait savoir que Jacques Bernard fait partie de ceux qui géraient les biens de l’industriel et politicien ha’tien, feu Thomas Désulmé. AHP 20 février 2006 4:20 PM ********************************** ** Correspondent in Haiti: ‘True Haitians indeed recognize that René Garcia Préval’s victory is a victory for the Haitian people! Unfortunately, we must mention a conflict between Patrick Féquiére, Pierre Richard Duchemin and Jacques Bernard. A Jacques Bernard who has been characterized by Patrick Féquiére as a megalomaniac, swindler and crook. According to Jacques Bernard, who claimed to have been assaulted by Mr. Duchemin and Mr. Féquiére as he entered the Tabulation center on Tuesday, he has been blamed. Yet, Mr. Bernard was not clear as to what exactly he was being blamed for. Nonetheless, public clamor is that Mr. Bernard tried hard to create confusion in an attempt to steal the elections for Leslie Manigat. Word on the streets is that Mr. Bernard is in possession of US$4,000,000.00 to stage the theft. Jacques Bernard has been keeping a low profile these past few days. He, according to Ms. Issa, a member of the Sage Council, would have gone to France if it had not been the convincing arguments of a current minister. Indeed, he is a ‘wondering Frenchman on Haitian soil’. Ms. Issa indeed said that Jacques Bernard was scheduled to leave but a De Facto Minister convinced him to stay. Jacques Bernard, who according to Patrick Féquiére, is working on behalf of specific interests, is responsible for the precipitous deterioration of the situation. ëNo one can trust him for he is a thief, a certified cheater and he is responsible for the election aftermath chaos.’ Up to now, the Legislative elections results can not be known, because Jacques Bernard having started to disrupt the electoral process, is coming back to finish the job, according to a member of the CEP. Nonetheless, Jacques Bernard claims to have been victimized. He has a million dollar farm in Thomazeau, that has been turned upside down by people who claimed to have been cheated out of their vote. We must admit that his credibility is very low among members of the CEPÖÖ’ End of recorded excerpt, direct from Haiti, Feb. 20, 2006 | Ezili Danto Witness Project www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-02-20-haiti-election-chief_x.htm Haiti Election Chief Flees Country The head of Haiti’s electoral council fled the country after opponents threatened his life and burned down his farmhouse nearly two weeks after disputed elections, an official said Monday. Jacques Bernard, appointed three months ago to bring order to a council that was plagued by organizational problems and infighting, left Sunday and may have traveled to Miami, said Michel Brunache, chief of staff for interim President Boniface Alexandre. On Friday, Bernard had reported receiving threats and requested more security amid complaints about the vote count from the Feb. 7 elections, which returned former President Rene Preval to the office, Brunache said. “He said he was afraid for himself and his family and said he wanted more security,” Brunache told The Associated Press. “I was shocked when I heard he had left.” The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti said it didn’t know Bernard’s whereabouts. Bernard had kept a low profile since the nine-member council declared Preval the president on Thursday, eight days after the long-awaited vote. Preval, who received four times as many votes as his nearest rival, was declared the victor after the electoral council agreed to divide 85,000 blank ballots among the 33 candidates proportionally according to the votes they had received. That gave Preval the 51 percent he needed to avoid a runoff. Throngs of Preval supporters flooded the streets after the polls, denouncing the delay in releasing the results and accusing Bernard of manipulating the vote count to deny Preval a first-round victory ó a charge Bernard has denied. Wimhurst confirmed that Bernard’s ranch in a town just northeast of the capital of Port-au-Prince was burned and looted over the weekend. After the incident, Bernard went on local radio to denounce some council members who have accused him of withholding information and excluding them from important decisions. Bernard’s absence could throw the vote-counting for legislative elections into disarray. Logistical delays have already slowed the result tabulation, and electoral officials will likely have to postpone the scheduled March 19 runoff, officials say. “If Mr. Bernard leaves Haiti, it will be catastrophic because he is the only man on the council who was professional,” said Micha Gaillard, spokesman for the Fusion party. “Without him we fear we could be in a situation where the legislative results will not be published.” Council member Patrick Fequiere criticized Bernard as a “megalomaniac” who abused the power of the council. “I believe that he had a political agenda,” Fequiere said on Radio Vision 2000. Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. ********************************* Recommended Links: – Boulos, Haiti Democracy Project and Tim Carney’s overeaching, destabalizing Preval’s presidency even before it begins – Why did the CEP choose to COUNT the blank ballots on a pro-rata basis but to not count the missing ballots from Sainte Trinité School, Carrefour-Feuilles, Abricots and other places that had gone missing but recovered and clearly available to be ADDED into the overall tally of votes on Wed. Feb. 15, 2006? – Haiti’s election crisis was made in Washington but transformed by the people of Haiti HLLN questions MINUSTHA’s credibility, OAS’s credibility, Washington’s credibility and their allies’ credibility, willingness and ability to legitimately support and safeguard the people’s landslide mandate to President Rene Preval – NO DEAL ELECTED RENE PREVAL, THE PEOPLE OF HAITI ELECTED PRESIDENT RENE PREVAL and now its been firmly DECLARED by the de facto authorities at the CEP – FREE SO ANN!!!! FREE YVON NEPTUNE, FREE JACQUES MARTHELIER, FREE HAITI’S CHILDREN, SUPPORT HAITIAN self-repect, self-defense and self-determination |
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