Steps Taken To Prevent Repeat Of Fraud In Haiti’s Run-Off Elections, UN Envoy Says
New York, Feb 17 2011 6:10PM
Measures are being taken at the 1,500 voting centres for Haiti’s presidential run-off election next month to prevent a
repetition of fraud that marred the first round last November, a senior United Nations official said today.
The Organization of American States (OAS) will increase its observers to 200 from 120 in the first round, electoral
sheets will be colour-coded and call centres beginning today will inform voters about polling locations,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Deputy Special Representative Nigel Fisher told the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) via video link from Port-au-Prince, the capital.
A code of conduct is being developed, outlining behaviour for candidate supporters and others at voting centres and he
said he expected a $2.5 million funding shortfall to be covered by donor pledges or, in the short-term, by the UN
Development Programme (UNDP), should those pledges arrive late.
Earlier this month, the Provisional Electoral Council announced that a former first lady, Mirlande Manigat, and a
popular musician, Michel Martelly, would be the two candidates in the run-off, eliminating incumbent President Rene
Préval’s party candidate, Jude Celestin.
In December, thousands of protesters rampaged through the streets of Port-au-Prince, accusing the ruling coalition of
rigging the polls, after tallies of the 28 November first round put Ms. Manigat and Mr. Celestin in first and second
place, with Mr. Martelly third.
Turning to the humanitarian situation 13 months after a devastating earthquake killed 220,000 people and made 1.5
million others homeless, Mr. Fisher said the target for transitional shelters had been exceeded, houses assessed and
building codes revised and most children in earthquake zones were back in school.
The main challenges at hand include post-quake recovery and resettlement, the response to the cholera epidemic that
erupted in October, and cyclone season preparation, he added, noting that seismologists had found that the massive 2010
quake occurred on a secondary fault, and pressure had not been substantively reduced, meaning that Haiti faced the
prospects of a second significant earthquake.
Above all, “the critical issue is jobs,” he stressed, citing the evolving challenges of forced evictions and
gender-based violence as other challenges. Further, the cholera epidemic, now in its fourth month, has seen over 230,000
cases and 4,600 dead, with epidemiologists estimating a total 400,000 cases will be seen in the first year of the
outbreak, he said.
The Chair of ECOSOC’s Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti, Ambassador John McNee of Canada, noted that the Interim Haiti
Recovery Commission had recently approved another $430 million in projects in housing, debris removal, education,
energy, health and job creation. The Group plans to travel to Haiti for meetings with the Government and various
stakeholders and present a report to the Council’s July session.
ENDS