HAITIAN ELECTIONS TECHNICALLY READY, BUT POLITICAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000252

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR
DRL
S/CRS
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA)
TREASURY FOR JEFFREY LEVINE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PKAO HA
SUBJECT: HAITIAN ELECTIONS TECHNICALLY READY, BUT POLITICAL
PROBLEMS REMAIN


1. Introduction: In a meeting with the donors and
international elections partners February 1, Provisional
Electoral Council (CEP) Director General gave a readout from
the January 29 elections simulation. The simulation tested
distribution of materials, the status of the Voting Centers
(VC),and the Port-au-Prince based Vote Tabulation Center
(VTC). Bernard said that in most cases, the simulation day
went well, but that it also revealed some important problems
that Bernard and the CEP are working to fix before February

7. End Introduction.

Some Voting Centers Refuse Non-Sensitive Materials
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2. According to Bernard, some of the VC, mostly those in
schools and churches, refused to receive non-sensitive
elections materials. Bernard said he was not sure whether the
sites refused the material because they did not understand
that non-sensitive materials would arrive before Election Day
or because they were refusing to act as a VC. However, he
reported that a group at the CEP would work to fix the
problem and that the Minister of Education wrote a letter to
the schools asking for their cooperation. He expected the
problems to be solved soon. According to USAID, as of
February 3, roughly 20 possible VCs, including some state
schools, still refuse to allow voting materials onto their
premises. Bernard said he believes that the centers are
either not cooperating for political reasons or to extort a
last-minute payment from the CEP.

Last Voting Site (BV) Personnel Still Training
-------------- -


3. Bernard reported that the drawn out conflict between the
political parties and CEP about poll worker lists continues,
but said it would be settled by February 5. He lamented that
many political party complaints were more about confusion
within the parties and political machinations to delay the
process than real concerns about the poll worker lists. For
example, MOCHRENHA complained that no one from its list of
potential poll workers in one commune had been hired by the
CEP, but when Bernard found MOCHRENHA,s list, he discovered
that the CEP had selected 17 of its 37 suggestions. (Some
parties filed a formal complaint February 2 in the southeast,
see septel.) Bernard admitted that the CEP had made some
errors processing the lists, but stated that the CEP had done
its best to fix the problem by sending the list with errors
to the political parties for corrections and many political
parties never responded with changes. As a result, he said
some 50 percent of the poll worker training would occur
February 2 and 3, and a very small number of trainings would
continue February 4 and 5. However, according to USAID, the
CEP is still struggling with political party complaints as of
February 3.


4. At mega-centers in urban areas, Bernard said that Haitian
Scouts and "Brigades de Jeunnesse" would help voters to find
their voting site. He said that BV employees and supervisors
would train the youth and to mitigate confusion, each voting
site would list the first and last name that it serves.
Bernard was confident that though there would be some
problems with the centers, Haitians want to vote in the
election and would tolerate a fair amount of confusion in
order to participate.

CEP Regional Employees Paid
--------------


5. UNDP Financial Officer Mohammed Hassan reported that all
communal and departmental electoral bureau (BEC and BED)
employees had been paid as of January 31. He said press

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reports to the contrary were either old or focusing on a very
few isolated cases. Bernard said a working group was
handling the issue at the CEP and would advise the BEC and
BED workers to check their bank accounts for the transfers.
He said the payment would enable him to call on the BEC and
BED employees to help sort out any remaining elections issues
in the days remaining before the first round February 7.

More Voting Center Changes
--------------


6. Bernard reported that the CEP had finished the final
changes to the voting center list. The CEP has made 98
changes to the list in the last month. It has added annexes
to expand the capacity of 44 VC, moved 50 VC so that they can
be closer to population centers, and added 4 VC to better
serve the population in some areas. Bernard admitted that in
some isolated cases people would have to walk up to two hours
to reach their voting center, but asserted such long walks
would be rare. He also said that the Interim Government
would allow public transportation and private carpools to
within a few blocks of the voting centers.

Vote Tabulation Center Fully Functional
--------------


7. The vote tabulation center has now been tested several
times and is 100 percent functional, the only work that
remains is to finish receiving areas for the press, political
parties, international community and observers. Bernard said
that the CEP press center at the Montana Hotel would begin to
publish results after 20 percent of the returns have been
counted and said the first provisional CEP results would
likely come out February 8.

Several Declarations set to Clarify Rules for Election Day
-------------- --------------


8. PM Latortue announced rules and regulation for election on
the radio early February 3. The announcement included
clarification that voters will be allowed to vote with their
registration receipt (Bernard also made the announcement
February 3),that February 7 will be a national holiday, the
sale of alcohol will be prohibited February 7, that
demonstrations will be prohibited from February 5 until the
publication of provisional results, and that the end of the
campaign season will be February 5. Bernard reported that
the Government would ask Electricity d,Haiti (EDH) to
increase politically sensitive power production on election
night to ease tension and aid in ballot counting.

Cite Soleil Voting Centers
--------------


9. Bernard reported that the new voting center locations for
Cite Soleil have been finalized and would be posted at the
old VC locations to help voters find the new centers.
Bernard also revised the number of registered voters in Cite
Soleil from 55,000 to 60,000, because some Cite Soleil
residents had registered at the CEP, where anyone from any
part of the country could register.

CEP Cash Flow Problem Solved
--------------


10. The CEP and UNDP have solved CEP cash flow problems by
creating a revolving account for additional documented CEP
expenses. (Note: The cash flow problem stemmed largely from
poorly documented travel between March and October 2005 that
was not reimbursed and unforeseen trips to sort out problems
in the field since mid-December. End Note). According to

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UNDP financial officer Mohammed Hassan, the UNDP issued a
check February 2 for roughly USD 300,000 to the CEP. Bernard
stated February 1 that he intended to use the revolving fund
to finance last minute travel to sort out problems before
February 7. The UNDP and CEP said they would design a
vouchering system so that the UNDP can easily reimburse
legitimate CEP expenses in the future.


11. Comment: Bernard and the CEP still have time to sort out
final wrinkles with the voting center and BV personnel. What
problems remain are strictly non-technical but are worrisome
with days until the election. MINUSTAH Electoral Taskforce
Chief Colonel Barry MacLeod called the election a "boxer with
a cauliflower ear", but said that technically the process has
the momentum to continue and produce an acceptable result.
End Comment.
CARNEY