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#4907: More positions on election situation (fwd)
From: MKarshan@aol.com
Elections: Massac, Preval, Feuille, Preval, Neptune, Alexis, Charles,
popular organizations, neighborhood groups, Corbett list contributors,
opposition candidates:
President Rene Preval: "â?¦ we will do everything to preserve our rights and
for our institutions to be respected."
A group of former opposition candidates from the Group of Convergence,
MOCHRENAH, MPSN and MRN declared their approval of the results of the
elections urging a speedy seating of the 47th legislature to normalize the
situation and begin the work the people voted for them to do. They urged all
to respect the will of the voters. Damis Jean Kelly, a former candidate for
deputy from MRN said the leaders of the opposition and the international
community should reconsider their position.
Yvon Feuille (Senator-elect Fanmi Lavalas): "I doubt seriously that the
United Nations or the OAS will overstep their boundaries to satisfy the
interests of certain Haitian political sectors who are calling for the
freezing of international assistance to Haiti."
Popular Organization: "Orlando Marville [head of OAS electoral mission to
Haiti] can't stop the Lavalas from coming down." "Orlando is a foreigner
from the international community. We are Haitians. We love Lavalas, we ask
them to stop putting their mouths in Haitian affairs, we are elders in our
own house."
Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis: "We must take our destiny into our
hands and show that we are responsible for our country."
Asselin Charles, spokesperson for Prime Minister: "I stress again that the
electoral council according to the Constitution is a supreme authority in
electoral matters and the sole judge where election results are contestedâ?¦If
we are in a democracy, there must be respect for institutions, and the
government can't interfere and try to influence the electoral council in any
way whatsoever." "The Haitian government is confident that the elections
will not affect membership with CARICOM, and expects Haiti to be voted in
without any hesitation."
Neighborhood group/Konbit for Croix-des-Bossales: "The people you hear
calling us chime [thugs] today, we voted them in '91â?¦K-Pim (Evans Paul),
Serge Gilles, Victor Benoit -- we voted for them."
Yvon Neptune, Senator-elect Fanmi Lavalas: "There are two or three
politicians who have not only been threatening the Lavalas Family for a long
time but now they are threatening to overthrow the government and to make
President Préval leave, dissolve the CEP, and annul the elections... They
want to create a mess, to destabilize the country, destabilize the
government... We have heard their declaration planning to go all over the
country creating confrontations and asking for the bone-breaking, repressive,
coup d'état-making army to be restored in the country." "Fanmi Lavalas will
never allow a coup d'etat against the Haitian people!"
Corbett list contributor (with consent) Thor Burnham : "I was recently in a
country in the Americas where voting problems were widespread. The chief
electoral officer was publicly vilified for poor organization, lack of
ballots, and the fact that workers didn't show up to the balloting stations.
Polling times had to be extended, and a bomb threat closed another polling
station. Many people didn't get to vote at all. Where was this fiasco? It was
the 1999 provincial election in Ontario, Canada. And yet, Canada, with its
all too smug holier than thou attitude has seen fit to declare Haiti once
again inept. (never mind the large scale fraud that permeated the 1995
secession referendum) And I don't remember Haiti publicly condemning it for
its election problems.
" By the way, the recent election in Mexico is another case in point. Widely
hailed as an example of democratic achievement, there were many problems. I
was in Oaxaca in the zocalo on the night of the election. A fairly large
crowd assembled outside the election offices demanding ballots....apparently
the IFE ran out of ballots, so hundreds of people did not get to vote. They
stoned the building and tried to break down the door. But, Fox is pretty much
a status quo neo-liberal, so no one got too excited, which was confirmed when
he backed down on his promise to pull the army out of Chiapas...after all, it
is a question of national sovereignty. I don't remember reading a deluge
(pardon the pun) of Washington Post articles condemning the elections in
Mexico, but they certainly trot out the rhetoric for Haiti, don't they?"
Corbett list contributor (name withheld): "Susan Scott Krabacher who is the
Founder of the Mercy & Sharing Foundation was a part of the US delegation and
witnessed the entire election process in May. She also agrees that it was a
spectacular event. The Haitian people came out despite any fears they had and
voted. They WALKED to the polls, waited sometimes for many hours and placed
their votes in an incredibly peaceful manner. The country should be proud of
this accomplishment and the scrutiny should stop. If you are not part of the
solution, chances are you are part of the problem. Let's stop mincing words
and start being productive people!"
Corbett list contributor (with consent) Dr. John Judson: "Congressman Conyers
is absolutely correct. Those of us who were there on May 21 all agree that
the process was peaceful and that turnout was tremendous - better in fact
than US non presidential elections. It is time for everyone to accept the
fact that the people of Haiti did as good a job as any reasonable person
could expect with their elections. The elected officials need to be accepted
by all and seated so that the country can begin to move forward againâ?¦We
should all encourage our elected congressmen to speak out as did Congressman
Conyers."
Father Yvon Massac (Fanmi Lavalas) denounced hypocrisy of international
community regarding Haiti's elections and accused some of international
community of trying to impose a prefabricated democracy on Haiti as if there
are two democracies: one for the rich and one for the poor. Massac pointed
out that the funds the international community is threatening to cut are
those that have already been frozen for a few years because the Haitian
parliament had not passed necessary legislation. Haiti has been paying
interest on these international loans as if it were already dispersed despite
not being able to use the monies yet.