By Wadner Pierre
"Why Haiti's prodigal son, Michel Martelly, may be its savior," is the title of an editorial puff piece published by the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) on June 20, 2001. The piece argues that Haiti's current President Joseph Michel Martelly has the potential to save the country. Unsurprisingly the article ignores not only the background on President Martelly (and more here), but also the illegitimacy of the way in which he was elected, and the ongoing destruction of earthquake camps that his government is helping to facilitate.
During the recent November and April election I visited voting stations across Port-au-Prince, taking hundreds of photographs and speaking with dozens of groups of people. It is because of this experience that I am shocked by the claims made by Metayer. Most bold of his claims is that the recent elections in Haiti brought a "landslide election" victory for Martelly, with 67.6% of the vote.
What Mr. Metayer fails to mention is that in fact Martelly received the support of only 16.7% of registered voters – what CEPR described as "far from a strong mandate – as early reports show Martelly with just 716,986 votes to Manigat’s 336,747." Most of the country decided not to vote.
Ignoring those facts is an injustice to the Haitian people and the majority poor who were excluded from the (s)election. The first and second round (2010-2011) of Haiti's Presidential elections, through which Haiti's current president Mr. Materlly was catapulted to power, were fraudulent. No, Mr. Martelly did not win the majority of the vote. As we all know there was just a selection or something imposed by the US and the rest of the International Community (most importantly, the OAS & UN). The CEP excluded 15 political parties among them Haiti's most popular and largest political party Fanmi Lavalas (headed by PhD former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide).
I hope these photos can help Mr. Metayer see some of what I saw while I documented the poorly attended votes on Nov. 28 , 2010 and March 20, 2011. I will be putting up more photos soon as well.
It is clear that less than 20 % of Haiti's population voted in these last elections. These elections were against the majority of Haitians. Please do not tell the world what the Haitian people do not tell you.
It is unfortunate that much of the mainstream media whether in Haiti or overseas continue to cover the Haitian ongoing struggle in a typical imperialistic way.
In the name of my Haitian brothers and sisters, I plead with Mr. Metayer to not ignore us. I plead with him t back up his arguments with facts.
"Why Haiti's prodigal son, Michel Martelly, may be its savior," is the title of an editorial puff piece published by the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) on June 20, 2001. The piece argues that Haiti's current President Joseph Michel Martelly has the potential to save the country. Unsurprisingly the article ignores not only the background on President Martelly (and more here), but also the illegitimacy of the way in which he was elected, and the ongoing destruction of earthquake camps that his government is helping to facilitate.
During the recent November and April election I visited voting stations across Port-au-Prince, taking hundreds of photographs and speaking with dozens of groups of people. It is because of this experience that I am shocked by the claims made by Metayer. Most bold of his claims is that the recent elections in Haiti brought a "landslide election" victory for Martelly, with 67.6% of the vote.
What Mr. Metayer fails to mention is that in fact Martelly received the support of only 16.7% of registered voters – what CEPR described as "far from a strong mandate – as early reports show Martelly with just 716,986 votes to Manigat’s 336,747." Most of the country decided not to vote.
Ignoring those facts is an injustice to the Haitian people and the majority poor who were excluded from the (s)election. The first and second round (2010-2011) of Haiti's Presidential elections, through which Haiti's current president Mr. Materlly was catapulted to power, were fraudulent. No, Mr. Martelly did not win the majority of the vote. As we all know there was just a selection or something imposed by the US and the rest of the International Community (most importantly, the OAS & UN). The CEP excluded 15 political parties among them Haiti's most popular and largest political party Fanmi Lavalas (headed by PhD former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide).
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| Nov. 28 , 2010 by Wadner Pierre |
It is clear that less than 20 % of Haiti's population voted in these last elections. These elections were against the majority of Haitians. Please do not tell the world what the Haitian people do not tell you.
It is unfortunate that much of the mainstream media whether in Haiti or overseas continue to cover the Haitian ongoing struggle in a typical imperialistic way.
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| Low Voter Turnout on March 20, 2011 By Wadner Pierre |
1 comment:
"Please do not tell the world what the Haitian people do not tell you."
-- That's a great line, Wadner. I really appreciate how well you get to the heart of the media's misrepresentation of this (s)election.
-Nathan
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