27544: Craig (news) Haitians Flock to Vote (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig


February 8, 2006
Haitians Flock to Vote, on a Day of Anger and Hope
By GINGER THOMPSON

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 7 — After more than a year of planning, the 
long-awaited presidential elections began here on Tuesday with signs of the 
same tensions and disorder that have kept this poor, troubled nation at the 
brink of chaos for the last two years.

At least four people died in a day of anger and confusion, as many polling 
stations opened hours late. Two people died after collapsing from exhaustion in 
the shoving to cast ballots, while a man in the northwestern town of Gros Morne 
was shot to death by a police officer. Later, the same officer was killed by a 
vengeful crowd that hacked him to death with machetes and burned his body, a 
Haitian radio station reported.

The voting was organized by the United Nations, the Organization of American 
States and an interim government installed by the United States. Initial 
results were expected Wednesday, with final results as late as Friday.

Haitian political observers and international election coordinators, including 
the O.A.S. secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, acknowledged the problems. 
Still, they said, the half-mile lines of people who walked hours to cast their 
ballots also showed an abiding determination and hope for something better.

"We cannot be complacent," Mr. Insulza said in an interview. "Mistakes were 
made and we will have to discuss them. But the fact is that we had a 
satisfactory election in Haiti, a satisfactory election in which many people 
voted."

In most polling places, electoral authorities said, more than 50 percent of 
registered voters showed up to the polls before 6 a.m., when the voting was to 
begin. Poll workers, Mr. Insulza said, were not ready for so many people so 
early, and voting centers opened hours late.

Also, in the poor neighborhood of Cité Soleil here in the capital, violence has 
been so common that the interim government did not open polling centers, so 
residents were angry even before the voting began.

Frustration among crowds of voters boiled over. People began scaling walls, 
smashing windows and breaking down doors to confront poll workers. Police 
officers fired tear gas and United Nations soldiers fired shots into the air.

The situation quieted after voting began. As time approached for polls to close 
at 4 p.m., the president of Haiti's electoral commission, Max Mathurin, 
announced that the centers would remain open until "there is not a single voter 
left in line."

Voters made clear they would settle for nothing else. Indeed, even after 
darkness fell, people were still voting by candlelight in polling places 
without lights.

"I don't want to see life this way, with kids washing cars on the streets 
instead of going to school," said Toussaint Wisley, 21, in Bon Repos, north of 
the capital. "I want to vote so that things can change and life in this country 
can be respected."

Barrett Kajuste, 49, said he did not mind walking an hour to vote in Gonaïves. 
"I am here because I want a change in my country," he said. "I have never been 
employed in my life. That is the change I want."

The election was widely considered a crucial step toward rebuilding a country 
pushed close to collapse after a violent uprising, mounting protests and 
pressure by the United States ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide 
two years ago. Since then, the nation, in which more than half of the people 
live on less than $2 a day, has been ravaged by kidnappings and killings.

Human rights groups estimate that some 1,500 people have been killed since 
2004. They accuse the interim government, led by Prime Minister Gérard 
Latortue, of detaining hundreds of supporters of Mr. Aristide for political 
reasons. Meanwhile, opponents of the former president accuse street gangs loyal 
to him of conducting a campaign of violence across the capital to pressure the 
international community into returning Mr. Aristide to power.

Those tensions and the distrust that has come from them echoed through polling 
places.

The most heated incidents flared around Cité Soleil, where supporters of a 
leading presidential candidate, René Préval, shouted that the government was 
trying to deny people the right to vote and that the elections were a sham. Mr. 
Préval, previously elected president in 1995, is widely seen as a protégé of 
Mr. Aristide and heir to his supporters.

Some voters abandoned the polls and started protests. Most, however, stood 
firm.

"Even though there is so much disorganization, I want to fulfill my civic 
duty," said Jean-Gérald Luman, who lives near Cité Soleil. "People need a 
change. They need jobs. They need food. They need schools."

"But most of all, they need stability," he added. "That is why we are voting."

Martin Landi, director of electoral operations for the United Nations 
Stabilization Mission in Haiti, acknowledged that the voting had a rocky start. 
But he said the United Nations had expected challenges in this "inflammable 
environment."

By early afternoon, Mr. Landi said, more than 90 percent of the 804 polling 
places were running peacefully. He likened the voting in Haiti to that in other 
countries ravaged by violence and upheaval, including Afghanistan and East 
Timor. "To me, the message that people are sending is that they want to vote," 
he said. "Some are pushing. And some are fighting. But they are voting."

Boxes of ballots were destroyed at polling places in the capital and around 
Gonaïves, electoral observers said, raising concerns about fraud and threats of 
more violence. Most people, however, seemed confident the vote would be fair.

A supervisor at a polling place inside a fancy apartment building Mr. Aristide 
built for government workers next to Cité Soleil complained that they did not 
get ballots and other materials on time. At another polling center inside a 
motor vehicle registration office, the electoral supervisor said he had only 
five employees to cover 17 voting tables.

In at least a few dozen stations, electoral authorities said, poll workers were 
illiterate and could not find voters' names on alphabetical lists, so they had 
to scan pages of photos. Illiterate voters could not read signs that explained 
where to vote.

At a station in Gonaïves, there were 45 voting tables for 18,000 voters. 
Jacques Toussaint had stood in line at almost every table.

"We don't have the right to vote," he said, sweaty and scowling. "Everywhere I 
go, I cannot find my name. I have been here since 6 in the morning, and I still 
cannot vote."

Amy Bracken contributed reporting from Gonaïves for this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/international/americas/08haiti.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1139396908-1LdT75ct9fcVc6+e5UM9Hw