Recently Haiti held the 2nd round of presidential elections. And while the elections were free of violence, there still remains a lot of confusion as to who has won. The US State Department, as always, was satisfied as to how things went. Unfortunately, the number of voters was markedly low and most people were against the current President and his party. It is estimated that about a million people voted which is only about 20% of the registered voters.  This surely is not a typical democratic election. The voter turnout is said to be the lowest in the past 2 decades.  What is the reason?  The public know that no matter whom they vote for- it is meaningless because corruption still reigns supreme in Haiti. Voter intimidation and threats by President Martelly's party has been at its peak.  This is the primary reason people were afraid to vote. Democracy in Haiti is all but dead. The election council came out saying that the presidential candidate nominated by Martelly was the winner, yet most people do not even remember voting for him. Jovenel Moise, a novice, is said to be the winner and he will run against Jude Celestin in a few weeks time. The US has invested a lot of money in Haiti's election, supposedly to maintain stability. But cries of fraud have been rampant. Almost everyone agrees that Moise could not possibly have won.  There is no transparency with the elections council.  Lost ballot boxes, irregularities and inadequate legislative directives were a common problem in the last election. Many accreditation cards issued to political party monitors were easily available for less than $10. Parties with resources were seen buying these cards and voting without a worry. At the moment, there is nothing but chaos and confusion. Whoever wins the election on December 27 will have a monumental task. First the post-earthquake rebuilding is not even complete. There is a massive cholera epidemic and we also have a crisis with the Dominican Republic and expulsion of thousands of expats. There are reports of mismanagement at every level, even the Red Cross. Most NGOs have only been catering to their own interests and have had little impact in the lives of Haitians. Democracy is very fragile in Haiti.  With all these issues at hand, the next leader will need to have strong leadership and management skills. Haiti needs a fresh start.  It is hoped that the coming election on Dec 27 will be transparent, clean and credible. The threat of violence is ever present and the ideology of democracy is almost foreign to Haitians. No matter who becomes the president of Haiti, the first thing he will need to do is get rid of corruption- because the presence of the social evil has been the root cause of problems in Haiti

 

Henry Beaucejour

Digital Strategist Expert/Editor/founder of Haititechnews

@hbeaucejour

Honorary Executive Vice President at many companies overseas. Henry Beaucejour also has served in business development in the technology-consulting field.Contributor for many newspaper internationally and also Tech advisor on policies .

 

Source : articlesbase.com

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