HAITI ELECTIONS: ELECTION NEWS ROUND-UP (APRIL 16,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 001072 SIPDIS WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS NSC FOR SHANNON SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2015 TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID HA SUBJECT: HAITI ELECTIONS: ELECTION NEWS ROUND-UP (APRIL 16, 2005) REF: PORT-AU-PRINCE 1005 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Douglas M. Griffiths. Reasons 1 .4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) ¶I. ELECTION SECURITY (Para. 2) II. PARTY ALLIANCES: CONSTANTLY SHIFTING (Paras. 3-5) III. PARTY CONVENTIONS FILL MONTH OF APRIL (Paras. 6-11) IV. MORE POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES (Paras. 12-13) ¶V. CEP COMMISSIONS (Paras. 14-15) ¶I. ELECTION SECURITY -------------- ¶2. (SBU) MINUSTAH-CivPol has been tasked with organizing security for the Haitian elections and is in the process of conducting risk/security assessments for up to 470 possible voter registration sites (current OAS plans call for 424 sites, as mentioned above). CivPol Commissioner Dave Beer has directed that the elections are the number one priority for his Civ-Pol personnel. The CivPol elections security team of nine personnel includes two U.S. officers who met with poloffs April 14 to outline their mission. They have completed about 25 percent of the potential voter registration centers/sites security assessments. None of the sites thus far assessed meet even minimum security standards. They provided information on the methodology to be used to recruit the 3600 election security assistants (ESAs) who will be drawn primarily from the current list of potential HNP recruits (not ex-FAdH) throughout the country. The ESAs will be the first line security defense in the majority of voter registration centers, providing unarmed, static security to the facilities and equipment. (These are designated 'green" in the CivPol scale.) Amber-designated centers will likely require full-time HNP presence in addition to the ESAs. Voter registration sites in the most insecure areas ("red") will have a MINUSTAH military presence. II. PARTY ALLIANCES: CONSTANTLY SHIFTING -------------- ¶3. (C) Former mayor of Jeremie and Grand-Anse senatorial candidate Jean Beauport told PolOff that a new coalition was forming that comprised Evans Paul's Convention for Democratic Unity (KID),Gerard Blot's Head's Together (Tet Anselm), Claude Romain's Popular Party to Renew Haiti (PPRH),Henold Buteau's Movement for National Reconstruction (MRN) and Axan Abelard's REPONSE parties. Beauport said an announcement could be made later in April once the parties agreed on a common platform and selected a presidential candidate. If the coalition won, Beauport said the post-electoral strategy would include a national unity government with a "60/40 split." The Prime Minister would be appointed from a party within the coalition and 40 percent of the cabinet seats would go to parties outside of the coalition. ¶4. (U) Following the February 19 National Penitentiary breakout, the National Initiative to Save the Transition was established to call for the resignation of Latortue and the interim government. Members include Dany Toussaint and Prince Sonson's Haitian Democratic and Reform Party (MODEREH),Turneb Delpe's Haitian National Democratic Progressive Party (PNDPH),George Blot's Tet Anselm, and Belizaire Dejean's National Patriotic Movement-November 28 (MNP-28). ¶5. (U) Media reported February 17 that five parties formed the National Front of Independent Parties (FRONTPAIN). The National Agricultural and Industrial Party (PAIN),the National Labor Party (PNT),the Patriotic Union of Democrats (UPD),the Institutionalized Democratic Party (PDI) and the PRS (nfi). FRONTPAIN called for "economic liberalism, under the auspices of a strong state." III. PARTY CONVENTIONS FILL MONTH OF APRIL -------------- ¶6. (U) The Christian Movement for a New Haiti (MOCHRENA) held its national conference April 9 in Gonaives, the party's birthplace. To no one's surprise, party leader Luc Mesadieu was announced as the party's presidential candidate. Mesadieu told PolCouns April 13 that 5-6000 attended the conference (Note: this seems exaggerated. End Note). According to Mesadieu, there were several tire-burnings and roadblocks set up early to prevent people from attending the conference; however, MINUSTAH responded and removed the blockades and provided some degree of visible security at the gathering. Mesadieu, a dentist by training, has been a Protestant pastor since 1979. He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2000. ¶7. (SBU) PolOff attended the Popular Party to Renew Haiti's (see www.pprh.com) national congress on April 9. The PPRH was the fusion between Generation 2004 (led by Claude Roumain and Daniel Supplice, an unsuccessful senate candidate in 2000) and the then-defunct Social Liberal Party of Haiti (PLSH), led by Serge Boris Montes. Supplice said PPRH would pursue the "strongest possible alliance" for elections. Approximately 1000 partisans jammed a local nightclub to listen to the party's leaders. As has been the case at most conferences, there were more partisans than actual delegates. It was embarrassingly quiet when a moderator did the roll-call of delegates from each of the ten Departments. ¶8. (U) Supplice criticized the current government for the poor security situation (the event was overshadowed by the continuous gunfire heard from the HNP/MINUSTAH operation that led to the deaths of two prominent gangsters) and said the next-elected government needed to bolster the police. He also saw a need to focus attention on education and providing medicine to the needy. Supplice's comment that garnered the most applause was his call for a Haitian Army to protect the nation. Roumain's speech, nearly entirely in Creole, focused on building modern and democratically-structured political parties to change Haiti's status as an "ungovernable chaotic entity." ¶9. (U) On April 14, PolOff attended the first national congress of the National Christian Union for the Reconstruction of Haiti (UNCRH). Part political rally, part evangelical revival, close to 800 people nominated Dr. Chavannes Jean Jeune as leader of the party. Noteworthy guests included former President Leslie Manigat (RDNP's candidate),Serge Gilles (Social Democrats' candidate),Evans Paul (KID's candidate) and Dany Toussaint of MODEREH. ¶10. (U) Chavannes said the party must trust in God to lead the country in the right direction. He claimed he had strong support from the southern part of Haiti (his home) and from the Diaspora. Americans Dr. Joseph (J.L.) Williams from the North Carolina-based ministry New Directions International and Ted Boers of Partners Worldwide (see www.partnersworldwide.org/Haiti/who.html.) spoke fervently in support of Chavannes as a unifying leader. ¶11. (SBU) In an April 11 meeting with UNCRH advisor (and former IGOH Minister) Robert Ulysse, we learned Chavannes would not be announced as the presidential candidate until pending alliances were sorted out. Ulysse said, and Chavannes repeated April 14, that UNCRH is allied with the Haitian Civic-Political Front (FRONTCIPH),a loose electoral alliance of right-wing and religious parties formed in September 1999. Ulysse further said UNCRH was collaborating with the Social Democrats (and might support Serge Gilles as the overall candidate). IV. MORE POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES -------------- ¶12. (U) Solon Joachim (PhD) called from Minnesota April 8 and told PolOff that he would run for the presidency. Joachim is 65 years old and has a website "www.haitishope.com". He has been outside of Haiti for nearly 40 years, which would be an issue due to the residency requirements to participate in elections. Joachim said he would run as an independent candidate and challenge the constitution since it was "written as a decree." (Note: it was not. End Note.) ¶13. (SBU) Dr. Guy Deve Theodore is a prominent physician in Pignon, located 40 miles south from Cap-Haitien. Dr. Theodore spent several years in the U.S. and was in the U.S. Air Force. Dr. Theodore told EmbOff April 12 that he would travel to Washington, D.C. next week to discuss elections (at the Inter-American Dialogue). Theodore is an AmCit and local warden and would have to challenge the electoral decree that requires Haitian nationality (Note: the constitution does not recognize dual-nationality. End Note.) ¶V. CEP COMMISSIONS -------------- ¶14. (SBU) Part of the fragmentation in the work of the CEP stems from the vertical structure of the Commissions that was adopted by the CEP. Even though members have their individual commission responsibilities either as president or as a member, all decisions by the commissions are still reviewed by the CEP as a whole. This is a time consuming process that also allows some room for the commissions to avoid responsibility by being able to blame a lack of progress on the CEP organization, which they created. ¶15. (U) RECRUITMENT - Josefa Gauthier, President ELECTORAL OPERATIONS - Patrick Fequiere, President ADMINISTRATIVE - Rosemond Pradel, President JURIDICAL (LEGAL) - Max Mathurin, President CIVIC EDUCATION - Freud Jean, President FINANCE AND BUDGET - Francois Benoit, President PUBLIC RELATIONS - Gerson Richme, President REGISTRATION - Pierre-Richard Duchemin, President FOLEY