Elections in Haiti.

• Author: Ochoa, Gina
• Position: OAS

On March 20, the OAS-CARICOM Joint Election Observation Mission (JEOM) was present once again for the second round of presidential and legislative elections in Haiti. The Mission had a presence in all eleven electoral departments and stayed in the country until the final results were announced.

The 201 election observers deployed throughout Haiti were able to witness some improvements as compared with the first round of elections. These included: the political climate on election day which was calmer and more relaxed; better performance on the part of election officials; an active role of the national security forces in contributing to the efficacy and order of the day; rigorous verification of election documents; and, in general, better efforts to ensure the transparency and integrity of the results.

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On this occasion, the JEOM sought to verify whether the recommendations it had made after the first round had been taken into account and implemented. It hoped to observe better organization of the voting and a greater sense of legitimacy for the authorities elected. JEOM recommendations after the first round included matters related to the voter lists, the information campaign about where to vote; awareness raising and information about the process in general; the training and conduct of election officials; and the functioning of the Vote Tabulation Center.

As elections drew to a close, the JEOM Chief of Mission Colin Granderson emphasized the excellent civic participation of the Haitian people, which "made it possible to hold the second round of elections in a peaceful fashion, thus contributing to democratic practices in the country as well as the credibility and legitimacy of the...