A Story of Coincidence and Chance

I wish I had more fun things to talk about. Today was a bit of a downer, in many ways.

( Being heard... )

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters is criticizing a decision by Haiti's electoral council to exclude more than a dozen political parties from next year's legislative elections.

In a letter sent Wednesday to President Rene Preval, she urged the president to ensure the provisional electoral council provides a complete, public explanation for the disqualifications and to reinstate unlawfully banned parties before parliamentary elections Feb. 28.

The California representative's letter, sent via the Haitian Embassy in Washington, lends outside support to political groups frustrated by Haiti's nine-member, presidentially appointed electoral council.

Opposition groups accuse the council of trying to help Preval's newly created Unity party win majorities in parliament so he can push through constitutional reforms and expand executive power. Some have threatened to disrupt voting if the council is not replaced.

"I am concerned that these exclusions would violate the right of Haitian citizens to vote in free and fair elections and that it would be a significant setback to Haiti's democratic development," Waters wrote.

Preval's press office said it was not aware of the letter as of Wednesday afternoon. The electoral council has not responded to the criticisms against it.

A U.S. State Department spokesman did not comment on the letter, but said the Obama administration is nearing completion of a review on its policy toward Haiti with results expected early next year.

The most prominent faction excluded from the vote is former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party, which has organized protests and discussed a possible boycott of the vote.

Waters provided prominent support for Aristide in the wake of his 2004 ouster to Africa aboard a U.S. plane, leading a delegation that returned him briefly to the Caribbean before his ultimate exile in South Africa.

— US lawmaker criticizes Haiti election exclusions

The political party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide will be barred from legislative elections scheduled for February 28, Haitian elections officials said on Wednesday.

[...]

"The Lavalas Family party will not be allowed to participate in the next election because the electoral council's legal counsel said the party did not meet all legal requirements," electoral council president Gaillot Dorsainvil told local radio stations.

He did not specify which requirements the party failed to meet.

Ninety-eight of the 99 seats in the legislature's Chamber of Deputies will be at stake in the February election, along with one-third of the 30-member Senate. The vote for the remaining lower house seat will be held at a later date.

[...]

In a rare interview, Aristide confirmed on local Radio Solidarity on Wednesday that he had given authority to Narcisse to register the party, and questioned whether Haitian officials wanted to hold fair and democratic elections.

"That will depend on whether the electoral council wants to organize an election or to make a selection," Aristide said by phone from South Africa. "If they want to organize elections, I encourage them. But if they want to make a selection I urge them not to take that path because it will not serve the country's interests."

— Reuters

Last spring, Lavalas was also banned from Senate elections.

It's such a strange thing: the official narrative (of, say, the Bush administration or the Martin government) is that Aristide lost the support of the people and the people rose up against him (and the US helped give him a ride out of the country for his own protection). One would think that, with that kind of environment, Lavalas would have no chance of winning an election. But it seems clear that there are forces trying to keep Lavalas out of elections. And it's so freakin' transparent.