08 Dec Election announcements (and aid?)

Yesterday was one of those long drawn out days. Press conferences were called and then no one showed up. And although the results were presented to the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) on Monday, results were not released to the public until nearly 9 p.m. in Haiti on Tuesday – hours after the scheduled announcement time.

The results:

Ms. Manigat       31.37%
Mr. Célestin        22.48%
Mr. Martelly       21.84%

Six of 10 Senate seats went to INITE – Célestin’s party. Only 1.07 million votes were counted, but there were 4.7 million registered voters.

According to electoral law, there will now be a runoff between Ms. Manigat and Mr. Célestin on January 16 – a first in the post-Duvalier era. However, according to a New York Times article, Célestin is convinced that he won the election with 52% of the vote. Interestingly, this was posted 5 hours before the election results were announced:

@judecelestin10 Jude Celestin 2010

It’s Settled! Jude Celestin Will Face Mirlande Manigat In Second Round

This morning, Reginald Boulos, Coordinator of the Economic Forum of the Haitian private sector and President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haiti (CHIC) announced that the Executive Committee of the Economic Forum of the Private Sector were amazed and confused by the election results as they nowhere near reflected the numbers “from counts of samples of minutes conducted not only by the Forum, but also by observers, embassies, international institutions and other independent entities” which showed a final runoff round between Manigat and Martelly.

Followed by this press released statement for Ban Ki-Moon:

The Secretary-General takes note that the preliminary results of the presidential and legislative elections which took place on 28 November in Haiti have been announced. He is concerned about allegations of fraud and is strongly committed to supporting free and fair elections that reflect the will of the Haitian people. He also notes that these results are not final and are subject to the provisions stipulated in the electoral law. He urges all candidates to exhaust the formal remedies and legal procedures, which will allow a clearer picture to emerge. This would be a solid base on which to move forward.
The Secretary-General expresses his concern over the acts of violence that have taken place in the aftermath of the announcement of the preliminary results. He reminds all candidates that they have a personal responsibility to encourage their supporters to remain calm and to stop violence. A peaceful solution to the current situation is crucial not only to confront the cholera epidemic in the short term, but also to create the conditions in the medium term for recovery and development from the earthquake.

Concerns over fraud were poo-pooed the day after the elections by the OAS and Caricom, along with the UN and the U.S. – that the irregularities were not enough to warrant an annulment, although there was plenty of evidence of ballot dumping, the ease of fraud, and other irregularities. But the U.S. has since changed its stance. In a press release issued by the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince, last night:

Like others, the Government of the United States is concerned by the Provisional Electoral Council’s announcement of preliminary results from the November 28 national elections that are inconsistent with the published results of the National Election Observation Council (CNO), which had more than 5,500 observers and observed the vote count in 1,600 voting centers nationwide, election-day observations by official U.S. observers accredited by the CEP, and vote counts observed around the country by numerous domestic and international observers.

 Weirdly, i’ve not been able to find the published results.

Today’s news is littered with stories of riots and clashes between protesters and MINUSTAH forces all last night and into today. That Célestin beat out Martelly by only 6,845 votes amid numerous reports of ballot stuffing, voting irregularities, closed polling stations, and other issues of possible fraud has ignited into a massive movement among the people to exercise their civil rights to protest.

Interestingly, although the news outlets all refer to the protests as riots, the Twitter feed and some news reports call it protests:

melindayiti melindayiti

Important distinction! RT @zekle: People aren’t rioting, they’re demonstrating. They’re not attacking other people or private poverty #Haiti

And as gunshots were  heard around the city:

melindayiti melindayiti

Terrible; it’s not protestors who have machine guns. RT @emilytroutman: Riots reaching Pville. Machine gun fire. 100s in the street. #Haiti

emilytroutman Emily Troutman

It’s not universal rioting. It’s a crowd that circles. They are purposely trying not to ruin the town. #Haiti

jacquiecharles Jacqueline Charles

The Haitian National Police is supposed to be protecting the people. So why are they egging the crowd on? Are they bored from lack of crisis

Regardless, the violence and unrest has led to American Airlines canceling its flights to Port-au-Prince, essentially shutting down the airport.

In the meantime, there are conflicting reports still about the origin of the cholera outbreak which has claimed 2,000 lives and sickened 93,000 Haitians since mid-October.While CNN states that the report is inconclusive, other reports are pointing back to the Nepalese. While this seems to be more of an issue of interpretations of interpretations, there is still cause to be concerned. Either way, MSF posted a new item to their field news about demystifying cholera – pointing to the ease with which it can be treated if treated quickly and effectively.Unfortunately, cholera has now spread to every part of the country and is still on the rise, with a mortality rate of 19.0 per 100,000.

What do the two have to do with each other (the election and cholera)? A lot, it turns out. According to the Christian Science Monitor, foreign governments were hesitant to send aid to Preval’s government. The elections were necessary despite the warnings against trying to hold democratic elections in such a devastated place. Elections held in Afghanistan recently showed the same signs of possible fraud, leading to greater concerns over instability.