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Port-au-Prince/Brussels,3 August 2005:
Extraordinary efforts are needed in the next few months to turn
a bad situation around or Haiti's elections will have to be
postponed.
Can
Haiti Hold Elections in 2005?,* the latest briefing from the
International Crisis Group, describes the massive technical,
political and security obstacles that must be overcome very
quickly in order to hold a municipal and local vote in October,
and parliamentary and presidential polls in November.
"Adequate security, public understanding
of the elections, and broad participation by those who want to
register and vote are essential if there are to be fair and free
elections", says Alain Délétroz, Crisis Group's Latin
America Program Director. "Unfortunately, there is little
sign any of these are possible right now".
"A legitimate, transparent and
participatory vote is the goal for all concerned with Haiti, not
just the formality of elections without substance to meet a
deadline", says Mark L. Schneider, Crisis Group's Senior
Vice President. "Empty elections that produce a government
with little legitimacy could drive Haiti into permanent failed
state status, run by drug and criminal networks".
There is no quick fix, and there can be no
early exit by the international community if Haiti is not to
collapse again. All parties concerned, including the
Organisation of American States, the UN, the U.S., Canada,
donors and the key Latin American and European countries
involved with Haiti, should make a long-term commitment to
support development, democracy and security together with a new,
legitimate government chosen in a credible election.
For the next months, the most pressing task
is to create the conditions for voter registration and elections
to proceed. Only one fifth of the potential voters and none of
the country's scores of political parties have yet registered
even though that process has been running for more than three
months and is scheduled to conclude in a week.
Above all, more security is needed. Citizens
do not feel safe in most of Port-au-Prince, which has almost a
third of all voters. The UN mission (MINUSTAH) should continue
recent, more active tactics to confront -- but in a more
targeted fashion -- the armed gangs in the capital's vast slums.
That requires more troops, particularly the rapid reaction force
the UN Security Council approved in June.
To reverse the deep-rooted political crisis,
major changes are also needed after elections. To avoid the old
winner-take-all mayhem, broad coalitions must be promoted
including the major parties and civil society. The predatory
manipulation of government for private gain should cease, and
citizens' faith in democracy must be rebuilt.
"Elections are part of a long process of
recovering from state failure, not the final step in that
process", says Schneider.
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