The ballot was as crowded as the earthquake-ravaged capital itself and a collapsed presidential palace is the prize. The voter rolls were filled with the dead and living citizens are still struggling to figure out if and where they can vote while worrying about political violence and a spreading cholera epidemic.
It was Election Sunday in post-quake Haiti.
Some polls began opening in major cities almost 50 minutes after the 6am scheduled time. Only 20 people were waiting when a central voting station opened in Cap-Haitien, a slow start in a largely rural country where people tend to be early risers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ninety-six contenders are competing for 11 Senate seats and more than 800 more are seeking to fill the 99-seat lower house. There are local and municipal races as well.
However, the focus is on the presidential contest. Nineteen candidates are on the ballot, but many Haitians believe the race comes down to a man who is not: Haitian President Rene Preval, who was barred by law from running again.
The laconic leader twice sailed into office bolstered by supporters of his former ally, ousted former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. However, in Preval’s second term, those voters branded him a traitor for not returning Aristide from exile.
Frustrations also grew among the jobless masses as Haiti’s economy continued to be one of the world’s worst. When the earthquake struck on Jan. 12 and a stunned Preval hid from sight, impatience turned to anger that has fueled anti-government protests.
The candidate of Preval’s recently formed Unity party is Jude Celestin, the little-known head of the state-run construction company whose dump trucks carted many of the quake’s estimated 300,000 dead to mass graves. His well-funded campaign included airplanes trailing banners with his name and dropping leaflets that flutter like yellow-and-green birds over tent camps for people made homeless by the quake.
A text message sent to Haitian cellphones on Saturday summed up the primary message of Celestin’s campaign: “Let’s assure stability.” His campaign workers already refer to him as “The President.” Some opinion polls put Mirlande Manigat, a 70-year-old former first lady whose husband was helped to power and then deposed by a military junta, as a more popular contender than Celestin.
Popular musician Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, known for jazzy, sarcastic dance music, had thousands of urban youths toting his pink signs and shouting to “Vote for the bald head!”
Some Aristide supporters are expected to back lawyer Jean-Henry Ceant, running on the “Love Haiti” ticket. Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party was disqualified on an unexplained technicality, sparking threats of a boycott by supporters.
Ousted former Haitian prime ministers Jacques Edouard Alexis and Yvone Neptune are seeking political rehabilitation, as is Charles-Henri Baker, a garment factory owner who lost to Preval five years ago.
Clashes among rival political camps caused several deaths in recent weeks. At least one person was killed in a clash between Celestin and Baker’s supporters in the far western town of Jeremie.
On Friday night, Martelly aides said a hail of bullets ended his campaign-closing rally in the southwestern peninsula town of Les Cayes, with one supporter reported killed. His campaign blamed the unconfirmed attack on “Mr Preval and his heir apparent, Mr Jude Celestin [and] the Unity [party] hierarchy.”
Unity officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The victor gets a five-year term at the helm of a disastrous economy and leadership of an increasingly angry and suffering population worn down by decades of poverty, the earthquake, a recent hurricane and now a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 1,600 people.
And the election’s winner will assume an office that has had only one occupant survive and complete a full, constitutional term in more than 200 years: Preval.
Political passions often translate into violence during Haitian ballots, but election fervor was muted on Saturday in the northern town of Limbe, where hundreds lay stricken with cholera. Journalists had to ask nearly a dozen people before finding one who knew the location of a polling station.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source