Logistics, Lawlessness May Force Delay of Haitian Vote

Two hours into her wait outside the Delmas 62 police station, Lady Cetoute had made little progress toward the head of the line to register for Haiti’s first national identity card.

But having little else to do and much to fear about the future, she stayed put, jostling with dozens of others crowded between parked cars and the blue-and-white cinderblock facade of the station.

“We need this,” the unemployed 28-year-old said earnestly of the ID card that will also serve as voter registration for planned fall elections. “It’s important for the country. I want to get my card now because there could be trouble later.”

A series of elections is supposed to begin Oct. 9, but militant supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have blocked the opening of ID registration centers in the slums that are home to 2.5 million people, who make up more than a quarter of the country’s population.

Just 5% of eligible voters had signed up for cards by the start of this month, raising prospects for postponing the Oct. 9 elections for local offices as well as Nov. 13 parliamentary and presidential votes. Any presidential runoff is set for Dec. 18.

The security delays and threats against would-be voters follow slow delivery of generators to power the identification system in the desolate provinces, and protracted negotiations with rural authorities to prepare polling places.

Despite the uphill battles still being waged against bureaucracy and bloodshed, those charged with organizing the elections contend that they are confident the voting will happen.

Rosemond Pradel, administrator of the Provisional Electoral Council, pledges that balloting will be held this autumn whether all eligible voters have had a chance to register or not. He argues that the will of the people cannot be ignored just because a few hundred gangsters are wreaking havoc.

Eager registrants such as Cetoute encourage organizers to believe they can overcome what seem insurmountable obstacles. Not only did she wait patiently to fill out the form and record her fingerprints, but she and other residents of the volatile downtown neighborhoods -- too racked by gunfire to have their own registration centers -- had trekked five miles up to Delmas to file their applications.

“We think the police and MINUSTAH [the U.N. peacekeeping mission] will take the necessary steps to pacify the lawless areas,” Pradel said. “But if they can’t, this represents only about 10% of the population. We may have to have elections with 90% of the population that is ready and have them for the other 10% later.”

Pradel believes the peacekeepers, who have shown little resolve to confront the armed gangs in more than a year here, will be forced into more action.

“The international community is spending $60 million for elections and $500 million for MINUSTAH,” he said. “You can’t spend that kind of money and get zero as a result.”

Last month, the U.N. Security Council boosted the peacekeeping force by 1,000 troops to 8,500, to provide additional security in the run-up to elections.

Extending the Aug. 9 registration deadline is an option, Pradel noted, as is some delay in the voting dates.

But Pradel sees delay as a slippery slope to prolonged instability and an interim government that lacks legitimacy. Since Aristide’s Feb. 29, 2004, departure to escape an armed rebellion, Haiti has been governed by an appointed former U.N. official, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, and patrolled by the Brazilian-led U.N. mission.

The U.N. and other international representatives laud the ID system and express confidence they can carry out the voting reasonably on time.

“Over 40% of the people in Haiti don’t even have birth certificates,” said Gerard LeChevallier, electoral assistance chief for the U.N. mission. “We use the same equipment as the [U.S. Department of] Homeland Security ... and if it’s good enough to prevent Osama bin Laden from slipping into Washington, D.C., it can keep a humble Haitian from voting twice.”

Only 200,000 ID applications were processed in the first weeks of registration, leading LeChevallier to concede that “people have the right to be skeptical” that all 4.25 million eligible voters can be registered on time.

Even at full tilt, each of the 600 computers converting fingerprints, names, addresses and birthdates into photo ID cards can handle only about 120 voters per day.

Elizabeth Spehar, election program coordinator for the Organization of American States, blames the late start in registration on a dearth of functional government offices and widespread electricity shortages in the countryside.

More problematic than the logistics, however, is the persistent lawlessness in densely populated slums. Violence-plagued neighborhoods such as Cite Soleil, Bel Air and La Saline have no registration offices yet because neither election workers nor U.N. peacekeepers will brave entry into areas crackling with gunfire and barricaded by smoldering trash heaps.

“We’ve been ready to work there in terms of equipment and personnel for quite some time,” Spehar said. “What is holding us up is the question of having the right atmosphere.”