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DE RUEHPU #0235/01 0321553
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 011553Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2257
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0930
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0771
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 0371
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0811

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000235 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
S/CRS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PKAO HA
SUBJECT: HAITI ELECTIONS: FEBRUARY 7 OR BUST 
 
REF: PAUP 225 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Douglas M. Griffiths for reasons 
 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  In a January 27 elections meeting with the 
OAS, MINUSTAH, and donors, Provisional Electoral Council 
(CEP) Director General Jacques Bernard stated that the only 
obstacle to the February 7 election date is fear; logistical 
matters will not keep the people from voting.  He assured the 
meeting that despite frustrations and interruptions, 
elections preparations were on track.  Bernard expressed 
confidence that Cite Soleil,s relocated voting centers would 
provide voters ample access.  Bernard insisted that the 
distances to voting centers nationwide were no greater that 
those Haitians are accustomed walking to attend church or go 
to the market.  Highlighting that distribution of ID cards 
had reached nearly 90 percent (reftel), he stated that 
registration receipts will not be sufficient to vote except 
for the rare cases where a systems error had prevented a 
voter from receiving his or her card.  Bernard recommends 
that authorities permit the use of public transportation and 
carpools on election day.    He advised that Departmental 
Electoral Office (BED) officials' interference with political 
parties' poll worker lists had delayed hiring, but that the 
CEP would complete hiring and training on time.  Bernard 
thanked the Charge for ensuring that the HNP would provide 
his security on election day.  Elections officials argued 
that a quick count would represent results slow to arrive 
from remote areas of Haiti.  End summary. 
 
VCs Moved to the Periphery of Cite Soleil 
---------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Bernard reported that 50,000 of approximately 55,000 
registered voters in Cite Soleil have picked up their 
identity cards, demonstrating their intention to vote. 
Elections officials had relocated six Cite Soleil voting 
centers to the periphery of the violent slum and developed 
security measures to ensure the safety of the voters. 
Bernard reported that all of the locations have more than 
sufficient space to accommodate voters.  The Charge remarked 
that none of the voting centers were located further than the 
distance between Cite Soleil and the card distribution center 
where most of the 50,000 voters had picked up their identity 
cards.  Because they had been able to retrieve their cards, 
they would presumably be able to vote. 
 
¶4. (U)  Bernard discounted complaints regarding distances 
voters will have to travel, comparing them favorably with the 
distance Haitians travel regularly to reach the market and 
church.  He doubted that Haitians were willing to make these 
trips but not willing to make trips of equal or lesser 
distance to exercise their right to vote.  All they needed, 
Bernard said, "is encouragement from the political parties." 
 
Voter Card Distribution at 86 percent 
---------- 
 
¶5. (U)  Elections officials have distributed more than 3 
million or 86 percent of the 3.5 million identity cards 
(septel).  OAS officials closed card distribution centers on 
January 22 and transferred cards to local electoral offices 
(BECs)  for continued distribution through February 6. 
Elections officials had transferred security guards from 
distribution centers to the BECs along with the remaining 
cards, leaving equipment such as cameras and computers 
unguarded.  Bernard lamented this lack of coordination 
between the OAS and the CEP.  (Note: separately, MINUSTAH 
Chief of Elections Security and Planning Neil Warriner told 
poloff that he has been warning the CEP for several months of 
this change of assignment and yet the CEP did not make 
arrangements to protect the equipment.  Warriner also told 
poloff that OAS officials had collected most of the equipment 
and planned to gather what was left.  End note.) 
 
¶6.  (U) Bernard called the issue of voters using their 
receipts "difficult," explaining that the confusion lies in 
the legal difference between "transitional arrangements" 
whereby voters vote with a registration receipt and the 
 
PORT AU PR 00000235  002 OF 003 
 
 
"electoral decree" which states voters must vote with their 
identity cards.  Bernard admitted there are rare instances of 
registered voters who could not get their identity cards 
because of system errors; thus poll workers will accept their 
registration receipts on election day.  However, Bernard does 
not intend to issue a public decree on this matter and would 
instead ensure the BEDs train the poll workers to accept the 
registration receipts of these voters. 
 
Public Transportation and Carpools on E-day 
---------- 
 
¶7. (SBU)  Bernard said that driving on Election Day was a 
legal decision for the government to take and that he would 
not issue a public announcement.   He recommended that the 
government allow public transportation and or carpools with 
four or more people per vehicle.  He left the security 
decision of the proximity of traffic to the voting centers 
for MINUSTAH officials to ascertain. 
 
Poll Workers still need to be Identified and Trained 
---------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  According to MINUSTAH officials, political parties 
were to present lists of potential poll workers to the 
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).  Instead, many political 
parties sent their lists to the BEDs which then forwarded the 
list to the CEP after apparently adding some names and 
removing others.  Bernard had forwarded these  provisional 
lists to the political parties the previous week, but had not 
received official responses.  (Comment.  In the meantime, 
parties continue to complain publicly about the poll worker 
lists.  End Comment)  Bernard expressed great frustration 
with the political parties' 'lack of discipline,' adding, 
"I'm tired of baby-sitting them."  Disagreements among BED, 
BEC, and personnel and CEP, have delayed hiring and training 
of poll worker in many locations.   Bernard and MINUSTAH 
officials were confident, however, that poll workers would be 
in place by election day.   Training for poll workers lasted 
only two days and there are more than enough able applicants 
to work the polls. 
 
The Quick Count Dispute 
---------- 
 
¶13.  (C) Meeting participants disagree sharply over the 
utility in conducting a quick count or parallel count. 
Canadian Ambassador Boucher was adamantly against the idea of 
a quick count.  He  advocated focusing all resources on 
obtaining official results as quickly as possible.  Boucher 
said he feared quick count results would be misrepresented as 
the final results.  He said that without a stronger 
understanding of Haiti's electorate, the international 
community was in no position to draw assumptions about the 
voting patterns.  Boucher asked the meeting whether the 
unofficial results ought to be presented by the international 
community, in light of its questionable credibility among 
Haitians. 
 
¶14.  (C) MINUSTAH and OAS elections officials, on the 
contrary, supported a quick count, arguing that it would 
counter possible misrepresentation.  They worried that as 
votes are tallied from Port-au-Prince, results will wrongly 
favor the capital's voting trends.  OAS Elections Chief 
Santiago Murray cited a 100% accuracy rate for the 15 quick 
counts completed in the Caribbean, including one in Haiti. 
 
¶16.  (SBU)  Comment:  We strongly support the conducting of a 
quick count by international observers, though it is 
questionable if whether at this late date a useful and 
credible quick count could be organized.  Santiago Murray is 
reportedly trying to enlist IFES to conduct the exercise. 
Both sides appear to have an inaccurate view of the uses of a 
quick count:  results are not made public during the tallying 
process, but kept internally to gauge the integrity of the 
official tallying process, and released after official 
results only if the result is in question. 
 
¶17.  (SBU)  Comment Continued.  The failure of the government 
to finalize arrangements for election day traffic is a 
 
PORT AU PR 00000235  003 OF 003 
 
 
continued frustration.  Bernard has exhausted himself 
fighting (and winning) many battles, and his decision to exit 
the field on this issue is understandable.  The government 
needs to make a decision and publicize it immediately.  We 
will press this issue with the Prime Minister at the earliest 
opportunity. 
CARNEY