The statement below was released on November 3 by the Canada Haiti Action Network in preparation for Haiti’s November 28 elections. For more information, visit
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The Canada Haiti Action Network is once again expressing its grave concerns about exclusionary elections in Haiti.
It joins with the many Haitians as well as human rights organisations in Haiti and abroad in condemning these elections as serving the interests of Haiti's wealthy elite and the foreign powers that have dominated Haiti’s past and present.
A national election for president and legislature has been called for November 28. The focus of international media has been the candidacy of popular hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean and his exclusion from the ballot, but the arbitrary exclusion of the candidates of Fanmi Lavalas is of much greater concern.
Fanmi Lavalas [the pro-poor party led by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide] is the largest and most representative party in Haiti.
This is the third time since April 2009 that Fanmi Lavalas has been formally excluded from elections in Haiti. The party was excluded from the two-round, partial senate election held in April and June 2009 and from the presidential and legislative election scheduled for late February 2010, cancelled after the devastating January 12 earthquake.
Voter turnout in April and June 2009 was less than 5% following the call for a boycott by popular organisations, including Fanmi Lavalas.
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has provided no credible justification for refusing to register Fanmi Lavalas. The council is widely regarded as a biased tool of President Rene Preval and the foreign powers that back him.
Recent protests outside the offices of the CEP and the US and French embassies demonstrate Haitian popular resistance to ongoing international interference in Haiti’s sovereignty. Many Haitians disparage the upcoming elections as “selections”.
The push for elections in Haiti is coming from the international powers that sponsored and assisted the overthrow of Aristide’s elected government that was overthrown in a coup in 2004.
It is a part of the sweatshop labour model for Haiti’s future development being touted by Haiti’s elite, foreign governments, and Bill Clinton and other representatives of United Nations agencies and international financial institutions. Canada announced on October 5 that it would fund the elections to the tune of C$5.8 million [A$5.75 million].
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon said in May: “The sooner we have political stability, the sooner we’re going to be able to get economic stability and growth in that country.”
“Political stability” for Haiti is imperial doublespeak for policies that deny social justice and political sovereignty to the poor and oppressed people of that country.
Fanmi Lavalas leader Maryse Narcisse recently told the IPS news service: “For us, this isn’t just the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas. What they want to exclude is the majority, the people.”
She says that Fanmi Lavalas will not participate in the election.
As US Congresswoman Maxine Walters and 44 other representatives wrote in an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on October 7: “Haiti’s next government will be called upon to make difficult decisions in the reconstruction process that will have a lasting impact on Haitian society, such as land reform and allocation of reconstruction projects among urban and rural areas.
“Conferring these decisions on a government perceived as illegitimate is a recipe for disaster.”
Aristide won an overwhelming victory in the 2000 national election. In February 2004, Aristide and the Haitian legislature and senate were overthrown in a coup d’etat backed by US, French, and Canadian armed forces.
The CHAN calls on the Canadian government to end its support for the November 28 sham election. It must cease its ongoing interference in Haitian sovereignty, which only results in disenfranchising Haiti’s poor majority.
The suppression of popular dissent by UN and other foreign forces or foreign-funded Haitian police agencies must stop.
No meaningful recovery from the earthquake can take place without the fullest democracy, including popular participation in decision making.
Much more Canadian government resources are required for earthquake relief and reconstruction. None should go to continued interference in Haiti’s political affairs.