Haitian Presidential Elections–October 25, 2015 (Part 1)

 Election Day Cite Soleil–October 25, 2015 (Photo by John Carroll)

I am not really an election observer but today I observed an election in Haiti. My camera and my blan-look got me in to four voting centers in Port-au-Prince without any questions asked of me. My family is from close to Chicago where we were taught to “vote early and vote often”…that is the sum total of my knowledge on how elections work in Illinois and I assume here in Haiti.

Cite Soleil—

We arrived in Soleil at about 10:30 AM at Lycée Soleil which is a public high school in Soleil. It was about 90 degrees and everyone was toasting in the sun.

There was the usual and customary very small door to enter the school grounds with three Haitian National Police (HNP) at the door trying to control hundreds of people bottle necked at the door. I thought that the crowd and the police did a great job and exercised extreme patience.  ID cards were checked at the door and I did not see any aggressive pushing or shoving.

I imagined the HNP wanted this election to look good in light of the tragic events in Soleil on October 16 when more than 12 people were reported killed in clashes between rival gangs in Soleil. This violence was  blamed on groups battling for control over voting centers ahead of today’s election. Blame was being spread everywhere…which did not help the dead people in the least.

Parliamentary elections in Cite Soleil on August 9 went very badly too and voting stations in Soleil had to be closed. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Haiti in early October and told the Haitian government  that they had a responsibility to provide security so that “we don’t see the kind of disorder we saw on August 9.”

(Election Day Cite Soleil–October 25, 2015–Photo by John Carroll)

Most of the people voting today in Soleil were young. This game is not for the old. And there were quite a few women.  Once inside the school grounds the folks would hold their identification card in front of them to see if they could find their number on a list and thus be able to vote at this site.  They would be voting for the next President of Haiti and had to choose one of 54 candidates. (They also voted for some senators.) 

The general demeanor of the crowd in the voting rooms was polite and fairly laid back. It was loud but not rowdy. It was Haitian in all aspects. 

I imagined that most of the people would be voting for Dr. Maryse Narcisse a Fanmi Lavalas candidate. She and ex-President Aristide had toured this very neighborhood just a few days ago. I wondered what would happen if a group of young men, armed by another political party, were to appear and start shooting inside the school. I doubted the three HNP could respond appropriately.  But I had to banish the thoughts quickly.  And thankfully it didn’t happen. 

After 35 years coming and going to Haiti, I have seen Haitians do incredible things. I’ve watched women climb steep mountain roads with heavy basket-loads of vegetables  on their heads. I have watched Haitian’s wake up from surgery on their hearts and smile and thank everyone caring for them.  And I have seen barefoot Haitian women run through the hot streets of Soleil carrying their sick infants to the hospital.

Now I have observed their courage again—voting for their new President under extremely harsh conditions.

Election Day Cite Soleil–October 25, 2015 (Photo by John Carroll)

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org