Haiti - Elections : Coalition of Civil Society, first observations

iciHaiti - Montreal, Cinema Festival : The Haitian documentary «1964 : Simityè kamoken» in the spotlight

iciHaiti - NOTICE Diaspora : Delay in the delivery of Haitian passports in Spain

iciHaiti - European Union : New humanitarian airlift with Haiti

iciHaiti - Weather : An American helicopter bound for Haiti makes an emergency landing in Monte Cristi

iciHaiti - Special D1 Championship : Complete results of the first 8th days

more news

Haiti - News : Zapping...

Haiti - FLASH : Dangerous coexistence of detainees at CERMICOL

Haiti - Agriculture : 3,000 hectares of rice cultivation abandoned due to insecurity

Haiti - Canada : Training of the multinational force in Haiti continues in Jamaica

Haiti - FLASH : USA repatriates 52 Haitians to Haiti...

more news

Haiti - Elections : Coalition of Civil Society, first observations
28/10/2015 13:17:14

The National Board of Elections Observation (CNO), the Haitian Council of Non State Actors (CONHANE), the Defense National Network of Human Rights (RNDDH) and the "Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn" (SOFA), grouped in coalition, have carefully observed the elections of October 25, 2015 and wish to share their initial observations that reflect positive and negative aspects of this elections.

Rapport d’observation :

Positive aspects:

Availability of the partial electoral list 30 days before the election and identification of polling stations ;
Availability, in a timely, of secure accreditation cards for the electoral observation organizations as well as for representatives of political parties and candidates ;
Timely delivery of election materials on voting centers, except in rare exceptions ;
Replacement of electoral officers implicated in acts of embezzlement, massive fraud in the election on August 9 ;
Good Involvement of PNH officers in the security of the vote whose many arrests have favored the smooth election ;
Installation by the Superior Council of the National Police of Haiti (the CSPN) of surveillance cameras in some places ;
Substantial number of women in the electoral process. Among the members of the polling stations we found at least one woman.

Negative aspects :

a) Communication Problems ;

Some messages of the CEP were not well conveyed or understood by those responsible for the voting centers. While the CEP has decided to ban the wearing of the observers t-shirt in several voting centers in the country, observers were denied access by the fact that they did not wear the t-shirt of their organization ;
Those responsible of many voting centers, refused access to several election observers, whose ccreditation cards should have, according to them, be sealed by the Departmental Electoral Offices (BED) and the Communal Electoral Offices (BEC).

b) Excess of PNH officers :
In some voting centers, excessive security measures taken by PNH officers have discouraged some voters. Search to which they were subjected have caused a long queue. No patients, voters have abandoned the queue and left without voting.

c) Turnout :
The participation rate of around 25%, already low, is even lower due to the rotation of representatives and observers who voted multiple times ;

Irregularities :

a) Installation / Opening of polling stations :
The Coalition estimates that at least 95% of polling stations were installed as planned. In general, polling stations opened their doors a little after 6 am for various reasons; The Coalition also noticed that some polling stations opened 2-4 hours after the official opening hours;

b) Secret of vote and Positioning of booths :
Installed in some offices on the floor, on benches near the windows see on air conditioners. Voting booths did not ensure privacy for voters and their vote was no secret. The officials at the voting centers and members of polling stations are not shown careful of the respect of secrecy of the vote;

c) Polling stations :
Polling stations were installed in small spaces, often difficult to access, which in many places has created bungling. Some voters were forced to fulfill their civic duty under a blazing sun as some offices were installed in a yard or in a garden.

d) Non-Identification of individuals :,

Many members of polling stations bear no uniform or badge ;

The ban by the CEP to electoral observation organizations of wearing a t-shirt has resulted that PNH officers and members of the polling stations were unable to distinguish electoral observers to voters themselves and represntatives of political parties and candidates;

False identification cards of representatives observers were in circulation. Some of them have even been seized by PNH officers.

Frauds :
a) Rotation of representatives :
To enable everyone to have access to the voting centers, the CEP had proposed an observation by rotation. This technique, overall, has been effective. However, in front of several voting centers, people pretending to be representative of political parties, said they had never had access to voting centers. This suggests that some political parties were favored. The rotation of representatives proved in some places a rotation of people but not a rotation of political parties. As a result, many representatives were able to vote several times.

b) Sales of representative cards :
Besides electoral observation organizations such as UNADA, COFE, Haitian League for Civic Action and Morals (LHACIM) of political parties and candidates have sold accreditation cards to political parties other than those to which they belong. These cards were available on the market up to 1,500 gourdes per mandate. Representatives cards were photocopied. In addition, the lower part of the card that had to be removed after the agent had finished voting, has not been in some cases, which facilitated multiple voting of some representatives.

c) Tractation of those responsible for voting and polling centers :
At the count, officials of voting centers and polling stations forced representatives of political parties and election observers out of polling stations.

d) Stuffing of ballot boxes :
The ballot stuffing was systematic in several voting centers.

HL/ HaitiLibre