HAITI: Controversial Senate Elections Planned

[magbana]

Controversial Senate elections planned in Haiti
by Kevin Pina

The Obama administration and the international community have remained silent the past two weeks concerning a decision by Haiti's election council to move forward with controversial Senate elections scheduled for April 19. Without disclosing its origin, the United Nations announced on March 24 that Haiti received over 100 tons of election materials to be distributed to 11,000 voting locations in advance of the poll. The National Democratic Institute, an organization created by the U.S. government and loosely associated with the Democratic Party, has been busy holding seminars throughout Haiti in preparation for the upcoming Senate elections.

The apparent decision to green light the contentious ballot comes on the heels of a ruling by Haiti's Provisional Election Council or CEP to exclude the Fanmi Lavalas party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide on procedural grounds. Haitian president Rene Preval met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington on Feb. 5. The election council's decision to disqualify all of the Fanmi Lavalas party's candidates was announced the following day.

Major stakeholders in Haiti such as the U.S., Brazil, Canada and France have to worry whether excluding Lavalas from the upcoming ballot will be seen as undemocratic and call into question the validity of the elections. A recent visit in early March by former president Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to ‘draw attention to Haiti and promote development' has only temporarily distracted attention away from the issue. Keep Reading . . .

FULL ARTICLE & PHOTOS: http://haitiaction.net/News/HIP/4_6_9/4_6_9.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. It would have been far better if Clinton would never have gone to Haiti.

Never thought we'd see the day he ended up promoting the sweat-shop owners' over the well being of the people of Haiti.

They have found out how sincere the man really was, after all, in restoring "Titid" to power, after the first _Bush stole Haiti's election by having him overthrown, only to have the 2nd scummy _Bush destroy the man all over again, with not a fare-thee-well from Clinton after all this sad, sad time.

Now he pops up, and tours the island far away from the people, promoting the interests of the exploiters of the country.

Such a small, dirty history for such an enormous country against a suffering, helpless people. It's the ugliest story on earth, pure thuggery, nothing else.