Reconstructing Democracy: Joint Report of Independent Electoral Monitors of Haiti's November 28, 2010 Election
- The November 28, 2010 election was not free or fair: hundreds of thousands of qualified voters were disenfranchised by a poorly managed registration process, missing names on voter lists, and polling stations that opened late, closed early, or were never constructed.
- The CEP excluded 15 political parties including Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti's most popular party, without legal basis, and international donors nonetheless paid $22 million, 76 percent of the election's cost.
- Turnout was historically low at under 25 percent, and nearly 25 percent of votes cast were lost, quarantined, or tainted by irregularities.
- Twelve of nineteen presidential candidates called for annulment before polls closed, and the report supports annulling and redoing the election.
This joint report presents first-hand observations from a coalition of US and Haitian organizations, including IJDH, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Louisiana Justice Institute, and Haitian grassroots groups, that monitored Haiti's November 28, 2010 presidential and legislative election. Six teams visited more than forty voting centers in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, Gros Morne in the Artibonite, and the Jacmel region. The election was held amid a cholera epidemic and with over one million earthquake-displaced people in camps, organized by a Provisional Electoral Council hand-picked by President Preval that had excluded 15 political parties, including Fanmi Lavalas, without legal justification. Monitors documented voters unable to find their names on lists, polling stations opening late or never built, and fraud allegations including ballot box stuffing. Voter turnout was under 25 percent and nearly 25 percent of votes cast were lost, quarantined, or tainted. Twelve of nineteen presidential candidates called for annulment before polls closed. The report concludes the election was neither free nor fair and upholds calls for it to be annulled and redone.
How to cite
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), Reconstructing Democracy: Joint Report of Independent Electoral Monitors of Haiti's November 28, 2010 Election, https://www.ijdh.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Haiti-Joint-Observer-Report-FINAL.pdf