#4227: Chapman replie to Tom Driver comments on recemt Haitian violence (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: chris chapman <top_chef@yahoo.com>

keywords: elections, lavalas, opposition, violence

I'm sorry for reacting to this post so late. I thought
Tom Driver brought up some very interesting points in
his post, where he talked of the violence of the
language of Aristide opponents.

That is one of the aspects that has most disappointed
me with the Haitian opposition. They have remained
obsessed with Lavalas, their statements talk about
nothing else. It is therefore not possible to know
what their position is on anything, except that they
don't like Lavalas. You have to watch the televised
debates on Telemax (also broadcast by some radio
stations) to get some idea of parties' stances, but it
forms a really miniscule proportion of the political
debate.

So I think, although there is widespread evidence of
fraud in the parliamentary elections, a lot of the
blame for the opposition's catastrophic showing lies
with the opposition itself. Who knows what the results
would have been if the vote had been free and fair.
But Lavalas were talking about development, peace, and
lape nan tet lape nan vant, and that's what people
wanted to hear. And, maybe more importantly, their
tone was measured and calm. They didn't make wild
accusations. Add that to their efficient, slick job
with their candidate's posters, banners and the White
Book, and you see that all-round they did a good PR
job. It remains to be seen if that will be translated
into good policies.

Chris Chapman

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