HAITI ELECTIONS: FEBRUARY 7 OR BUST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000235

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SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR
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SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PKAO HA
SUBJECT: HAITI ELECTIONS: FEBRUARY 7 OR BUST

REF: PAUP 225

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Douglas M. Griffiths for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a January 27 elections meeting with the
OAS, MINUSTAH, and donors, Provisional Electoral Council
(CEP) Director General Jacques Bernard stated that the only
obstacle to the February 7 election date is fear; logistical
matters will not keep the people from voting. He assured the
meeting that despite frustrations and interruptions,
elections preparations were on track. Bernard expressed
confidence that Cite Soleil,s relocated voting centers would
provide voters ample access. Bernard insisted that the
distances to voting centers nationwide were no greater that
those Haitians are accustomed walking to attend church or go
to the market. Highlighting that distribution of ID cards
had reached nearly 90 percent (reftel),he stated that
registration receipts will not be sufficient to vote except
for the rare cases where a systems error had prevented a
voter from receiving his or her card. Bernard recommends
that authorities permit the use of public transportation and
carpools on election day. He advised that Departmental
Electoral Office (BED) officials' interference with political
parties' poll worker lists had delayed hiring, but that the
CEP would complete hiring and training on time. Bernard
thanked the Charge for ensuring that the HNP would provide
his security on election day. Elections officials argued
that a quick count would represent results slow to arrive
from remote areas of Haiti. End summary.

VCs Moved to the Periphery of Cite Soleil
--------------


3. (U) Bernard reported that 50,000 of approximately 55,000
registered voters in Cite Soleil have picked up their
identity cards, demonstrating their intention to vote.
Elections officials had relocated six Cite Soleil voting
centers to the periphery of the violent slum and developed
security measures to ensure the safety of the voters.
Bernard reported that all of the locations have more than
sufficient space to accommodate voters. The Charge remarked
that none of the voting centers were located further than the
distance between Cite Soleil and the card distribution center
where most of the 50,000 voters had picked up their identity
cards. Because they had been able to retrieve their cards,
they would presumably be able to vote.


4. (U) Bernard discounted complaints regarding distances
voters will have to travel, comparing them favorably with the
distance Haitians travel regularly to reach the market and
church. He doubted that Haitians were willing to make these
trips but not willing to make trips of equal or lesser
distance to exercise their right to vote. All they needed,
Bernard said, "is encouragement from the political parties."

Voter Card Distribution at 86 percent
--------------


5. (U) Elections officials have distributed more than 3
million or 86 percent of the 3.5 million identity cards
(septel). OAS officials closed card distribution centers on
January 22 and transferred cards to local electoral offices
(BECs) for continued distribution through February 6.
Elections officials had transferred security guards from
distribution centers to the BECs along with the remaining
cards, leaving equipment such as cameras and computers
unguarded. Bernard lamented this lack of coordination
between the OAS and the CEP. (Note: separately, MINUSTAH
Chief of Elections Security and Planning Neil Warriner told
poloff that he has been warning the CEP for several months of
this change of assignment and yet the CEP did not make
arrangements to protect the equipment. Warriner also told
poloff that OAS officials had collected most of the equipment
and planned to gather what was left. End note.)


6. (U) Bernard called the issue of voters using their
receipts "difficult," explaining that the confusion lies in
the legal difference between "transitional arrangements"
whereby voters vote with a registration receipt and the

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"electoral decree" which states voters must vote with their
identity cards. Bernard admitted there are rare instances of
registered voters who could not get their identity cards
because of system errors; thus poll workers will accept their
registration receipts on election day. However, Bernard does
not intend to issue a public decree on this matter and would
instead ensure the BEDs train the poll workers to accept the
registration receipts of these voters.

Public Transportation and Carpools on E-day
--------------


7. (SBU) Bernard said that driving on Election Day was a
legal decision for the government to take and that he would
not issue a public announcement. He recommended that the
government allow public transportation and or carpools with
four or more people per vehicle. He left the security
decision of the proximity of traffic to the voting centers
for MINUSTAH officials to ascertain.

Poll Workers still need to be Identified and Trained
--------------


8. (SBU) According to MINUSTAH officials, political parties
were to present lists of potential poll workers to the
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). Instead, many political
parties sent their lists to the BEDs which then forwarded the
list to the CEP after apparently adding some names and
removing others. Bernard had forwarded these provisional
lists to the political parties the previous week, but had not
received official responses. (Comment. In the meantime,
parties continue to complain publicly about the poll worker
lists. End Comment) Bernard expressed great frustration
with the political parties' 'lack of discipline,' adding,
"I'm tired of baby-sitting them." Disagreements among BED,
BEC, and personnel and CEP, have delayed hiring and training
of poll worker in many locations. Bernard and MINUSTAH
officials were confident, however, that poll workers would be
in place by election day. Training for poll workers lasted
only two days and there are more than enough able applicants
to work the polls.

The Quick Count Dispute
--------------


13. (C) Meeting participants disagree sharply over the
utility in conducting a quick count or parallel count.
Canadian Ambassador Boucher was adamantly against the idea of
a quick count. He advocated focusing all resources on
obtaining official results as quickly as possible. Boucher
said he feared quick count results would be misrepresented as
the final results. He said that without a stronger
understanding of Haiti's electorate, the international
community was in no position to draw assumptions about the
voting patterns. Boucher asked the meeting whether the
unofficial results ought to be presented by the international
community, in light of its questionable credibility among
Haitians.


14. (C) MINUSTAH and OAS elections officials, on the
contrary, supported a quick count, arguing that it would
counter possible misrepresentation. They worried that as
votes are tallied from Port-au-Prince, results will wrongly
favor the capital's voting trends. OAS Elections Chief
Santiago Murray cited a 100% accuracy rate for the 15 quick
counts completed in the Caribbean, including one in Haiti.


16. (SBU) Comment: We strongly support the conducting of a
quick count by international observers, though it is
questionable if whether at this late date a useful and
credible quick count could be organized. Santiago Murray is
reportedly trying to enlist IFES to conduct the exercise.
Both sides appear to have an inaccurate view of the uses of a
quick count: results are not made public during the tallying
process, but kept internally to gauge the integrity of the
official tallying process, and released after official
results only if the result is in question.


17. (SBU) Comment Continued. The failure of the government
to finalize arrangements for election day traffic is a

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continued frustration. Bernard has exhausted himself
fighting (and winning) many battles, and his decision to exit
the field on this issue is understandable. The government
needs to make a decision and publicize it immediately. We
will press this issue with the Prime Minister at the earliest
opportunity.
CARNEY