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Ever since Haiti’s independence, they have been facing political corruption. Examples are the multiple coups that have thrown leaders out, presidents who proclaimed themselves dictators, and officials who have made Haitians their minions. Currently, there is a voting crisis in the presidential election. The voter turnout is low with about 25-30% of the population that are eligible to vote. Each of the 54 presidential candidates received over 13,700 passes for poll watching. Political parties sold some passes to the highest bidder in the days leading up to the election.The 13,700 campaign-employed poll watchers accounted for about 739,800 votes casted. The Martelly opposition believe that 50% of the voters were paid participants, even though there law stating that you cannot vote for your employer. Also, many votes were voided because of illiteracy, error, or assumed ballot stuffing. Education and illiteracy is a persistent problem for the Haitian poor, so when illegible ballot are voided, this could be equal to ignoring the poor population’s votes. Government backed Jovenal Moise has been leading the polls, and huge waves of backlash of been the result of this. Eight of the presidential candidates believe that there has been tampering with the ballot, and want the “true” results. They have called for their supporters to hold fight back, which have led to violent riots. Despite the low voter turnout of 25-30%, there are over 5 million registered Haitian voters. Reasons for not voting may be because they believe that their votes will be ignored or voided like many current votes are. Also, many Haitians are dissatisfied with the Haitian electorate since it is believed that they have been aiding the current president ‘s (Michel Martelly) chosen successor, Jovenal Moise in the campaign.
The most prominently suggested solution for the electoral crisis in Haiti is a transitional government. Eight presidential candidates have demanded changes in Haiti's electoral council and if that does not happen soon, they have called for a transitional government to create and adopt a new constitution, make many reforms and organize "credible" elections within two years. This transitional government would temporarily replace the Haitian government so that the real government would have time to stabilize. Stabilization could mean educating the electorate and public officials on how to correctly run campaigns in a honest manner. The problem with transitional governments, though, is that they are supposed to be temporary but stabilization can take a long time. Haiti has had political problems since 1804, and to say that democracy will quickly stabilize is a mere prediction. The current presidential elections will be delayed for an unpredictable amount of time and simply replacing the corrupt government with an elite temporary one won’t change much. Two years seems like an unrealistic time frame, considering that the transitional government may not even be effective among the population or officials. Retraining and educating officials and the electoral committee may teach them how to run a clean campaign, but it won’t necessarily stop them from continuing to alter ballots.
Another solution for this problem would be to educate not only the electoral committee but the Haitian citizens about these campaigns. If Haiti’s population were to know how elections worked and who was running, voting turnouts would be much larger. While this solution seems viable, there is one major problem. Educating the Haitian population about their government and electoral campaigns will not change the corrupt politicians running their government. As explained before, many Haitians have not voted because they do not trust the electoral committee to be fair. However, simply not voting will not improve their lives, either.
SOURCES:
Nienaber, Georgianne. "Haiti Election Aftermath: Fraud, Apathy, or Organized Chaos?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/haiti-election-aftermath_b_8769550.html>.
McFadden, David. "Haiti Opposition Says Transitional Gov't May Be Needed." ABC News. ABC News Network, 30 Nov. 2015. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/haiti-election-aftermath_b_8769550.html>.
McFadden, David. "Haiti Rights Groups Lead Rally Calling for 'Fair' Elections." ABC News. ABC News Network, 10 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015. <http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/haiti-opposition-transitional-govt-needed-35488008>.
Editorial Board. "Haiti on the Brink." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/haiti-on-the-brink/2015/12/11/1fd38b5c-9f7b-11e5-a3c5-c77f2cc5a43c_story.html>.