The Citizen Observatory for Institutionalizing Democracy (OCID) inform all stakeholders and the general public that all its national structure is formed, mobilized and ready for a systematic and scientific observation of the parliamentary elections on Sunday August 9, throughout the territory.

1,500 observers of its network will be deployed on a national sample, random and representative of all the country's polling stations on August 9, the OCID will be able to objectively indicate the actors involved in the electoral process and to the Haitian people, the actual situation of the start of the voting at mid-day. Similarly, OCID will be able to submit, at the end of the election day, an accurate picture of the quality of the process. It will provide reliable data, among others, on the participation rate, the availability of sensitive and non-sensitive materials needed for voting, the extent of election-related violence and other forms of irregularity, the level of fraud, etc... the report of the OCID will provide objective data that will measure the degree of acceptability of the elections. It should be noted that this observation will focus only on the quality of the electoral process and not on the votes cast in the ballot box. There will be no poll at the exit of polling stations nor tabulation in parallel to the CEP.

While it is ready for observation, OCID believes necessary to stresswith strong ink flaws found in the establishment of the electoral machine to a few days of holding the first round of the legislative. In fact, from August 4 to 6, the various regional coordinators of the OCID interviewed officials at the Departmental Electoral Offices (BED), Communal Electoral Offices (BEC) and visited Voting Centers (CV). And the finding is quite worrisome.

Regarding the availability of electoral lists, it should be noted that four days before the elections, 10% of officials of the BED questioned (1 of 10) and 33% of attendants for BEC (10 of 30) said they had not yet received all electoral lists to be displayed at voting centers. And the 104 voting centers visited, voter lists were posted in only 3. According to Article 33 of the Electoral Decree, electoral lists must be posted 30 days before the vote in the respective constituencies.

Furthermore, 4 days before the election, only 2 BED out of 10 and 5 BEC out of 30 whose leaders were interviewed have completed the training of members of polling stations. This leaves understood that the staff of polling stations will be formed at the last minute and therefore may not master the procedures of voting.

The OCID is concerned about all these delays in the implementation of the electoral machinery and by the fragility of the security environment, which contributes to creating an environment of great uncertainty.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14611-haiti-elections-survey-on-civic-engagement-in-the-context-of-elections.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14515-haiti-elections-the-ocid-observes-a-worrying-deterioration-in-the-electoral-environment.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14451-haiti-elections-the-citizen-observatory-very-worried.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14013-haiti-elections-ocid-for-a-different-haitian-electoral-observation.html

HL/ HaitiLibre