06 Dec Elections aftermath

The news is a bit grim today. For the third day this week, 2000 (well, depending on your source, from a few hundred to 3000) Haitians have taken to the streets in protest of the elections, calling for the arrest of Preval for fraud, and for annulment and a re-vote. There have been reports of clashes leading to deaths, though no one is sure how many. Unfortunately, the peaceful protests have turned violent – by whom? The news media and tweeters disagree about who started the violence. But this photo…well, it makes a person wonder.

No pithy comments. Just waiting for bated breath. The announcements are supposed to come out in two days (Tuesday 7 December).

What i find troubling in all of this is that the UN is now threatening to pull out of Haiti if the election results are not honored. (On a side note: who made Edmond Mulet the person in charge? He’s been an utter PR disaster over the past two months – or am i the only one who thinks so?) Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group seems to be doing a much better job of trying to get to the real needs and issues of the Haitian people. In his opinion piece for The Globe and Mail, he asserts:

No matter who goes to the second round, Haiti’s political leaders, the United Nations, the OAS and donors need to immediately forge a national consensus to move past this election, accelerate earthquake recovery and contain the cholera epidemic.

Move past this election, not throw a temper tantrum and take all their toys home.

In the meantime, cholera is still making its solemn march across PaP, the country, the island. There were 16 reported cases in the Dominican Republic as of today. There was a second confirmed case in Florida earlier this week. The deathtoll in Haiti is quickly moving toward 2,000 – and a possibility that it may be twice that, according to the UN. 65,000 – 85,000 have already been infected (well, reported infected) within Haiti.They are suffering a death rate of 2.3 percent, twice the global average. Add to this the “witch hunt” killings of at least 12 Haitians accused of “cursing” people or causing them to get cholera through special powders, etc.