Haitian progressives call for election boycott

The United States has decided that what Haiti needs is what the U.S. calls "a good election." No matter that unemployment, traditionally at 50 percent, has climbed sharply since the earthquake a year ago and that the economy has shrunk by 7 percent (CIA Factbook) and that 80 percent of Haitians live on less than $2 a day.

No matter that only 5 percent of the debris from the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake has been removed and that the million or so people left homeless over a year ago are still homeless, living under tarps and sheets, in tents if they are lucky, without the security of their own homes. No assured access to clean water, sanitary facilities, electricity? No matter. The U.S. has decided that the second-round runoff will take place March 20.

While cholera is no longer raging, cases of the strain in Haiti have spread and been reported in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Quebec and Florida. The fear of cholera has kept Haitian farmers from their fields, and women selling at markets can no longer sell locally grown foods. (Globe and Mail, Feb. 16)

The first round of voting on Nov. 28 was a total fraud. The authorities kept the most popular party in Haiti, Fanmi Lavalas, off the ballot, along with a number of other progressive parties. FL was founded by Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's president until he was kidnapped by U.S. Special Forces in 2004. The Nov. 28 election itself was marked by obvious ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and the deliberate mismanagement of election lists and voting precincts.

The fraud was so glaring that over half the candidates demanded the elections be annulled even before the voting was finished. Over two months of political skullduggery and maneuvering followed, culminating in a deal done during the Jan. 25 visit of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The deal involved one candidate withdrawing, France getting its candidate, Mirlande Manigat, a "constitutional" Duvalierist, and the U.S getting its candidate, Michel Martelly, a death-squad oriented Duvalierist, into the final round.

According to the March 9-15 edition of Haïti-Liberté, Tet Kole, a strongly united coalition of community groups, and a number of other progressive parties and organizations have called for a boycott of the election, starting with a demonstration in Port-au-Prince on March 15.

The Nov. 28 elections had only 23 percent participation. In the past few years, Fanmi Lavalas has also had some successful, widely observed boycotts. It is a tactic that the Haitian mass movement uses from time to time.

Since the U.S. wants these elections to be a "success," it is likely that the U.S. and other big-business media will downplay any boycott on March 20