Nov 02 2015
Haiti Elections Are So Problematic, They May Be a Prelude to a Coup
GUEST: Brian Concannon Jr., Executive director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.
Haitians went to the polls on October 25th for the first round of voting in Presidential elections. The elections were to be held in August but were postponed due to violence. Current President Michel Martelly who has long enjoyed US government support, has campaigned heavily for his favored candidate, Jovenel Moise, an agribusiness magnate. Meanwhile, former President Jean Bertrand Aristide of the Lavalas Party, who was ousted in a US-backed coup over 10 years ago and exiled for 7 years, has thrown his weight behind a physician named Dr. Maryse Narcisse. But widespread problems with the vote have raised serious concerns about the first round of voting. There have been widespread reports of vote rigging through stuffing the ballot box, as well as destroying ballots. Martelly’s supporters promise violence if his chosen successor does not make it into the first round.
Find out more information at www.ijdh.org.
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