Haitian Rights Group Urges Caution on Road to Elections in Haiti

New York, April 12, 1999 -- Although Haitian President Rene Preval formed a new government and appointed a new central election board (CEP) to lead Haiti to parliamentary and local elections aimed at ending a two-year political crisis, the threat to democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights in Haiti remains serious. The new appointments have not fundamentally changed any of the steps President Preval has taken over the last several months to concentrate political power in the executive and remove opposition from the legislature and local elected officials. Therefore the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) urges the international community-particularly the United States, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the European Union, France and Canada-to move with caution as the new Haitian government seeks to obtain assistance for elections and normalize the flow of development aid. Assistance to the government for institutional and economic reform should be placed and remain on hold until democratic institutions-the parliament and elected local officials-have been restored. And election aid should be made conditional on the fulfillment of a clear set of tasks designed to assure open and fair voting with a high turnout and the participation of all political parties.

Background

When President Preval effectively closed the Haitian parliament and replaced elected mayors and local councils with presidential appointees as of January 11, Haiti’s government broke the bonds of constitutional legitimacy which had held throughout a two-year old political standoff between parties and individuals vying for control of the state. The President proceeded to rule by decree, concentrating executive and legislative power in his office and reducing institutional sources of opposition. NCHR condemned this unconstitutional and anti-democratic abuse of power by the executive and called for the immediate restoration of the parliament and the development of a plan to guarantee full and fair parliamentary and local elections in 1999 and the presidential election in 2000.

Throughout the two-year crisis, NCHR has urged Haitian political leaders and parties to resolve personal and political differences through democratic, not authoritarian, means. The development and maintenance of functioning democratic institutions-particularly a vigorous parliament, elected local officials, and a credible judicial system to check executive abuse of power-is essential to assure the protection of the human rights of Haitian citizens. Consequently, the recent moves away from democratic governance have posed the most serious human rights challenge to Haitian institutions since the then-President Aristide’s return at the end of 1994.

While the appointment of a new government and an electoral board are small steps forward, NCHR emphasizes that the new cabinet and election board are constitutionally questionable, appointed (and thus removable) by a president ruling by decree. If these developments are to lead to a resolution, rather than a deepening of the present crisis, Haitian political and civil societies and members of the international community must work together to bring about new elections with all due speed.

Recommendations

1. President Preval, Prime Minister Alexis, the new cabinet of ministers and the Espace de Concertacion and other political parties must work with existing members of the legislature to restore a functioning parliament immediately. It will take several months to organize serious elections and the most effective way to ensure that they are organized fully and fairly is to provide for oversight by a representative legislative body .

2. The new government must established a modest work agenda for the transition period leading up to elections. That agenda should be limited to:

1. Reestablishing functioning bureaucracies in each of the ministries, most of which have been effectively inoperative during the two-year crisis;
2. Working to restore a climate of security in the country; and
3. Supporting the efforts of the CEP to organize elections.

1. The CEP must focus its efforts on building an elections administration staffed by highly qualified employees whose integrity and professional skills are above reproach. The CEP’s goal must be to avoid the fate of the elections in 1995 and 1997, which were terribly disorganized and marked by widespread fraud, and seek to replicate the success of Haiti’s first successful democratic election in 1990. The new electoral board should also broaden its representation at the regional and local levels to incorporate representatives from across the spectrum of political parties.

2. A non-governmental elections oversight commission should be established consisting of representatives from human rights and other civil society organizations to serve as an independent source of information on the performance of the electoral board from the beginning of its work. It makes no sense to organize and deploy domestic and international monitors at the time elections take place if the organization of the elections is deeply flawed from the very beginning.

3. International donors-particularly the United States, the European Union, France, Canada and the United Nations-should freeze all non-humanitarian and non-civil society aid to the Haitian government until the crisis is fully resolved, full and fair elections take place and democratic institutions are restored. The new government should be viewed as transitional only-it has no constitutional legitimacy to engage in reform activities and should not be encourage to do so by donors.

4. International donors should not move to assist the Haitian government with technical assistance or funding for the organization of elections until (i) a detailed plan and timetable have been established and (ii) the principal donors, the United Nations, the Organization of American States and the states comprising the "Friends of Haiti" have agreed to a collective strategy in which the criteria for international recognition of "full and fair" elections are clearly established before electoral organizing begins. Those criteria should include the following:

1. A minimum threshold for turnout-for example, 25% of registered voters
2. The development and implementation of credible, broadly agreed-to voter registration procedures (designed to avoid the voter registration fraud and manipulation problems of earlier elections), broadly representative or neutral (i.e., administered or supervised by the international community) polling station committees, and transparent vote counting and reporting methods
3. The development of public monitoring and reporting mechanisms to ensure that election campaigning is carried out in an environment free from intimidation
4. The development and implementation of a comprehensive voter education campaign beginning at least three months before scheduled elections

Without a comprehensive, transparent plan for elections agreed to among the Haitian government, opposition parties, civil society and international donors at the outset of the election organization process, elections will follow earlier patterns in Haiti (particularly those of 1997) and end disastrously, with party boycotts, chaotic organization, interminable disputes, voter manipulation and intimidation, extremely low turnout, and widespread fraud. The consequences for the survival of democratic institutions would be grave.