Forwarded message:

Date: Tue, 22 Aug 1995 10:19:42 -0500

Reply-To: cpt@igc.apc.org

From: "Christian Peacemaker Teams" <cpt@igc.apc.org>

Subject: Haiti Aug 13 election > > > CPTNET August 16, 1995 > >

Voting in Haiti's make-up elections last Sunday was both better organized and more secure than the vote on June 25, according to a group of international observers. They reported minor problems but no violence or apparent manipulation.

These legislative and municipal elections took place in communities where the June 25 voting had to be postponed due to administrative or security problems.

The six-member Voices for Haiti delegation observed in two of the four rural areas in the Artibonite valley where the make-up vote took place. In both areas—Lachappel and Desdunes—voting was calm and undisrupted. Increased presence of UN forces and OAS observers as well as newly trained Haitian Civilian Police is credited with the improvement over the June 25 elections. "These new police aren't the same as the old army, they do their job as it should be done," said an elderly man outside a Desdunes voting station.

Turnout varied from about 40% in Desdunes to 65% in some areas of Lachappel. Reports from urban areas indicate lower turnouts.

Voters appeared patient even when they had to search for their names on lists at three different stations. Observers received no complaints of threats or intimidation happening in- or outside polling stations.

With few exceptions, when observers brought deficiencies to vote officials' attention, they rectified them. Where one voting booth was near a window, for example, officials covered the window with cardboard from voting material packaging.

In Desdunes officials confiscated at least two dozen fake voter registration cards. One person was arrested after attempting to vote with one. Police confiscated a gun at a polling station and handcuffed the man who carried it in. The man escaped while they attempted to disarm the weapon.

Ten political parties announced that they would not participate in the August 13 vote, claiming fraud in the national electoral council. The FNCD party had threatened to disown any party member who participated in Sunday's elections. In some polling stations in Lachappel officials told voters that certain candidates that appeared on the ballot were not in the running. Observers have been unable to confirm whether the candidates themselves had dropped out of the races. Other parties assert that the boycotting parties are attempting to ruin an election they cannot win.

Ballot counting at all observed sites was carried out in the presence of party representatives and observers. Neighbors donated candles for the process and officials worked late into the night counting, tallying ballots by hand and transporting them to the communal election offices, sometimes hours away. Some of these officials had not eaten during their 15 hour or more work day.

"Politics is never spotless," said observer Duane Ediger, a Texan working in Haiti, "but the people took their responsibility as seriously as the poll workers did. Haitians who don't know how to hold a pencil or read a symbol are coming to realize they have a voice too, and they are not afraid to use it."

Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of the Church of the Brethren and Mennonite congregations of North America. Contact

CPT P. O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 tel. FAX 312-455-1199 e-mail

cpt@igc.apc.org. > FORWARDED BY: — Jim Lynch <Rochester, New York>