- What if a national election was held and virtually no
one showed up? That's precisely what happened in Haiti. On April 19, scheduled
senatorial elections were to fill 12 open seats. However, after majority
Fanmi Lavalas (FL) candidates were disqualified on a first time ever procedural
technicality, party leaders called for a national boycott, and Haitians
responded overwhelmingly with estimates of as few as 3% of eligible voters
participating.
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- According to Rene Civil, one of the boycott's leaders:
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- "What we (saw was) the non-violent resistance of
the Haitian people to undemocratic elections. There is no way they will
be able to call Senators elected in this process legitimate. You cannot
hold elections with the majority political party" excluded.
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- Ronald Fareau, another leader, added:
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- "We want to congratulate the international community
for their hypocrisy in these elections. They spent over $17 million on
another electoral fraud in Haiti while our people continue to suffer from
malnutrition and illiteracy."
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- In 2005, coup-ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
said:
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- "The people of Haiti want life and not death. They
want peace and not violence. They want democracy and not repression."
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- Except briefly under his leadership, they've gotten none
of the three, most recently on April 19 when again they lost out, including
by distorted media coverage.
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- AP headlined: "Few Vote in Haiti After Clash in
City." In fact, the election was virtually trouble-free, save for
sporadic incidents between president Rene Preval's Lespwa party and its
rival L'Union in Mirebalais in the Central Plateau region - away from Port-au-Prince
and unrelated to FL. Overall, the day was remarkably calm, peaceful, and
quiet as nearly everyone stayed home.
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- One Cite Soleil incident involved a L'Union party member
accused of bribing voters with money and food, again unrelated to FL, with
no effect on the outcome that's clearly discredited and illegitimate.
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- However, AP referred to elections "held under the
threat of unrest....President Rene Preval's supporters clashed briefly
in the capital (the Cite Soleil incident) with backers of a rival party....and
hundreds of protesters raided polling places and dumped ballots in Mirebalais,"
grossly misreporting the Central Plateau incident.
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- With so few ballots cast, results should be easily tabulated.
However, another AP report headlined: "Haiti will likely wait days
for election results....an election official said Monday....It will take
at least eight days to count ballots trucked in from the countryside,"
said Jean-Marc Baudot, a Canadian consultant serving as logistics coordinator
for Haiti's Provisional Election Council (CEP). He added that officials
hadn't been able to gauge turnout, but "it appeared" to be low.
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- Preval refused to comment until official results are
known. US Ambassador Janet Sanderson downplayed the fiasco stating: "Historically,
off-year elections in the United States as well as in other countries tend
not be be as well-attended as presidential elections. We'll have to see"
how this one turns out.
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- UN paramilitaries said it's hoped that Haitians will
"await calmly the publication of results....and that any dispute will
be pursued through legal channels." Of course, Haitians have none
by Washington-imposed diktats and MINUSTAH blue helmets on the ground as
enforcers.
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- The Voice of America (VOA) reports Washington propaganda
to the world. On April 19, it headlined: "Violence Mars Haitian Elections
(forcing) Election officials (to) shut down polling places in one of Haiti's
10 administrative regions after protesters....dumped ballots in the streets."
It exaggerated the Mirebalais incident, unrelated to Lavalas, with no effect
whatever on the results. It was isolated, minor, but unexplained in VOA's
report along with other key electoral information - to portray it as ordinary,
normal, legitimate, and, of course, "democratic."
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- The rest of its report said little more than turnout
was light, FL candidates had been disqualified, and Haiti is the poorest
country in the Western Hemisphere - suppressing news about Washington's
iron fist, its quashing real democracy ruthlessly, and repressing it under
military occupation.
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- Meanwhile, five Lavalas hunger strikers occupied Haiti's
parliament protesting their electoral exclusion. Preval ordered them arrested,
but thousands of supporters held SWAT teams, Haitian National Police (PNH),
and UN paramilitaries at bay. As a result, FL leaders fled to safety and
had to hide out to avoid Washington diktats to apprehend them - for daring
to support democracy, demand April elections be nullified, and re-held
during scheduled national elections in November.
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- Courageous Haitians pay dearly in their struggle for
freedom because America stands relentlessly in their way.
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- Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday
- Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
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- http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13225
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