VZCZCXRO2449
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0474/01 1321730
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121730Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9910
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1864

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000474 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/EX, WHA/CAR, S/CRS, DS/IP/WHA, AND INR/IAA 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS TO USOAS, USAID/LAC 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ASEC HA EAID
SUBJECT: HAITI SENATE ELECTIONS: APPEALS GRIND ON; ONE 
CANDIDATE MAY AVOID RUN-OFF 
 
REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 447 
     ¶B. PORT AU PRINCE 419 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  The appeals process following the April 19 
Senate elections grind on, with departmental appeals bureaus 
dismissing the great majority.  Out of eighteen cases filed 
to contest Senate election results, only one case thus far 
has been decided in the candidate's favor, giving the Lespwa 
candidate in the North Department an absolute majority, and 
making him the only Senate candidate to avoid a second round 
run-off.  Other contested cases, mostly involving claims of 
fraud, have been dismissed outright, referred for additional 
investigation, or have been transmitted to the National 
Elections Appeals Bureau (BCEN) for final decision.  The 
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) says it has set up a body 
to investigate violence that led to the suspension of voting 
in the Center Department.  The CEP has tentatively postponed 
the second round until June 21, and not set a date yet for 
re-holding the vote in the Center Department.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) After official results were announced April 29 for 
the nine regions that took part in partial Senate elections 
held April 19, various candidates filed eighteen cases 
contesting election results with their respective Department 
Bureaus of Electoral Appeals (BCED).  Center Department 
elections were called off on election day due to incidents of 
violence and ballot theft (Ref A).  The CEP has yet to set a 
date to hold these elections again, although it will probably 
come after the second round of voting in the other 
Departments.  It has set up a committee to investigate the 
incidents that led to a halt in the voting.  BCEDs heard 
appeals in the Nippes, North East, North West and South 
Departments May 3-4 and dismissed them due to lack of 
evidence.  No one filed appeals in the South East Department. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Only one appeal thus far has overturned an initial 
result:  the Department Appeals Bureau in the North 
Department found that Lespwa candidate Moise Jean-Charles 
received the minimum 50 percent plus 1 required to avoid a 
run-off.  Jean-Charles, who won 49.49 percent in the initial 
vote count, is a controversial former Fanmi Lavalas activist 
and mayor of the northern town of Milot suspected of 
involvement in political violence before former President 
Aristide's departure.  Fusion party partisans denounced the 
BCED's decision to dismiss Fusion (North) candidate Marie 
Ghislaine Mompremier's case claiming election fraud against 
Jean-Charles.  Mompremier vowed to take her case to the 
National Bureau of Electoral Contests (BCEN).  (Note: 
Election disputes are initially filed and heard by the 
Department-based BCEDs with recourse to the BCEN.  Decisions 
of the BCEN are final with no further recourse, as provided 
in Article 191 of the Electoral Law.  End note) 
 
¶4. (SBU) In the West Department -- Haiti's most populous 
region, which also includes the capital -- the BCED ruled it 
had no jurisdiction to hear cases brought by third place 
Fusion/West candidate Marie Denise Claude and fifth place 
Party of National Unity (PUN/West) candidate David Basile, 
deciding instead to forward the cases to the BCEN for final 
decision.  Claude and Basile filed protests charging the 
Lespwa (West) front-runner, Joseph Joel John, with election 
fraud, especially in the Cite Soleil neighborhood.  John won 
29 percent of the votes on April 19.  Marie Denise Claude 
claimed publicly on May 11 there had definitely been fraud in 
some polling stations, since some of them had shown more than 
70 percent turnout, in a department with less then 3 percent 
overall turnout.  Fusion spokesman Micha Gaillard the same 
day claimed that polling station workers, prosecutors, and 
CEP councilors were conspiring in several Departments to 
''steer'' the election count in favor of Lespwa and UCADDE, a 
party close to President Preval. 
 
¶5. (SBI) BCED hearings for cases filed in the Artibonite 
Department were held May 5, resulting in the nullification of 
votes in the towns of Verettes and Petite Riviere du Nord -- 
areas where rock-throwing and threats to polling stations 
prompted the early closure of some voting centers (Ref B). 
The case brought to the Artibonite BCED by Ayiti An 
Aksyon/Haiti in Action's second-place candidate Jean Willy 
Jean Baptiste is under investigation.  Sixth place Lespwa 
candidate Rigaud Saint Pierre's protest was referred to the 
BCEN for final adjudication. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The May 6 hearing for a case brought by the 
political party Citizens' Gathering for Hope (RESPE/Grand 
 
PORT AU PR 00000474  002 OF 002 
 
 
Anse) candidate Frederick Jean Lavaud was dismissed. 
However, the Grand Anse BCED referred to the BCEN the 
decision whether to re-do elections at one voting center (Les 
Icaques), where Lavaud alleged election impropriety. 
 
¶7. (U) Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) Director General 
Pierre-Louis Opont announced the week of May 4 that the 
second-round of elections would be postponed from June 7 to 
June 21.  Elections for the Center Department are tentatively 
set for June 28.  These dates remain tentative until 
President Preval issues a Presidential decree formally 
announcing the date.   Opont said that a delay in the second 
round was necessary in order to address problems with the 
electoral lists and assignment of citizens to voting centers. 
SANDERSON