Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) had 43 parties and one independent presidential candidate draw “identification numbers” for their campaigns in a chaotic session at the Ritz Kinam II hotel in Pétionville on Oct. 31. The candidates and their representatives loudly protested and skirmished over how the CEP conducted the number lottery, a bad omen for how more complicated procedures like ballot distribution and vote counting will be received.

The numbers were drawn from a drum. Some of the results: former president René Préval’s “Hope Platform” drew number one, the neo-Duvalierist “Great Center Right Front” of arch-reactionary Hubert Deronceray number two, the “Union for Haiti” of former putschist prime minister Marc Bazin number three, the “Front for National Reconstruction” of ex-“rebel” leader Guy Philippe number seven, the “Democratic Alliance” of ex-Port-au-Prince mayor Evans Paul number 10, and the Progressive National Democratic Assembly (RNDP) of former Army-puppet-president Leslie Manigat number 13. Independent presidential hopeful Charles Henri Baker, a former leader of the “Group of 184" opposition front, was assigned number 44.

Doubts, delays, and disorganization still dog the elections which the illegal government and occupation forces are trying to hold. De facto Prime Minister Gérard Latortue reiterated last week that his government would step down on Feb. 7, 2006. “When we say that we will hold elections, we will hold them,” he declared on his Oct. 24 return from a donors conference in Brussels. “For those who think that the election will not take place, I am telling them once and for all, loudly and strongly, the elections will take place.”

“I consider the Prime Minister’s declaration as wishful thinking,” responded CEP member Patrick Féquière. “I am still waiting for them to give us the resources necessary to carry out this task.”

Latortue’s regime announced a Commission to Guarantee the Elections last week. It will have 11 members: three from “civil society” (read bourgeoisie), three from the religious sector, and five representing political parties. Charged with watching for election problems, it will be assisted by the National Center for Election Observation.

A Citizenship Verification Commission, also illegally formed by the executive (which is not supposed to meddle in electoral affairs), is still collecting papers from candidates and has yet to issue its definitive electoral roster.

Meanwhile, Jean Dady Ostiné, alias Ti Kenley, was fatally shot in the throat by UN occupation troops in Petit Goâve on Oct. 26. According to a French police officer, a patrol of French UN policemen with a Haitian policeman encountered Ti Kenley on a motorcycle with two other men. When the policemen asked them to stop, Ti Kenley pulled out a 9 millimeter pistol and began shooting. The policemen returned fire, killing him. One of the other men was wounded in the foot.

Ti Kenley took part in anti-government demonstrations leading up to the Feb. 29, 2004 coup against President Aristide. Petit Goâve Police Chief Rosny Séméac called him a “notorious bandit” who had been actively sought by the police.

On Oct. 29, the Dessalinien Army of National Liberation (ADLN) put out a communique by Internet and leaflet claiming responsibility for an Oct. 19 midnight attack on the police headquarters in the northern town of Limbé, in which one policeman (a former soldier) was killed. According to radio press reports, the other policemen in the station escaped out a window. The guerillas captured one weapon and other materials. Over the past year, the ADLN, which claims to be fighting the coup and foreign military occupation, has attacked other police stations in the North in the towns like Gros Morne, Plaisance and Borgne.

Marc Bazin Hounded in New York

The presidential candidate of the Movement for the Installation of Democracy (MIDH) and of a renegade faction of the Lavalas Family party (FL) was met by demonstrators and cool community support when he passed through New York last weekend.

Marc Bazin served as Finance Minister for President-for-Life Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1982 and, a decade later, as the de facto Prime Minister for General Raoul Cédras during the first coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He now purports to represent Aristide’s party in elections being organized by the makers of the second coup against the now exiled president.

In an Oct. 20 press statement, Aristide repudiated Bazin, saying he was not supporting any candidate in the “elections-by-selection that the unconstitutional government is trying to organize” (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 23, No. 33, 10/26/2005).

Leslie Voltaire, a former Aristide minister and member of Haiti’s bourgeoisie, is the driving force behind Bazin’s charade and sat with the candidate during his two New York appearances, first at a $100-a-plate airport hotel fundraiser in Queens on Oct. 28 and then at a Brooklyn press conference and community rally on Oct. 30. When asked how the “Fanmi Lavalas” could be participating in elections which Aristide rejects, Bazin responded that “there is a reality on the ground [in Haiti] which differs from the president’s vision.” Voltaire backed up this statement.

Voltaire has already facilitated Washington’s attempts to legitimize its Feb. 29, 2004 kidnapping of Aristide by pretending to represent the Lavalas in the post-coup “Tripartite Commission” which named a “Council of Sages” which in turn appointed the illegal government of de facto Prime Minister Gérard Latortue. (In response to one question about this role, Voltaire claims he was put up to it by other “Lavalas leaders” and that he was just trying to save the lives of Lavalas militants. Clearly, the “tactic” is not working.)

Voltaire is once again acting as Washington’s agent by fabricating a “Fanmi Lavalas” candidate for the “elections-by-selection,” also aimed at legitimizing the coup. In the eyes of Haiti and the world, the charade will not have even a shading of legitimacy if Haiti’s largest party does not participate.

Spirited demonstrators rallied outside both of Bazin’s appearances, chanting slogans against the candidate and the “occupation elections” in general. “Down with the fake ‘Lavalas,’ fake ‘elections,’ and fake ‘democracy,’” said one sign. “Down with Bazin.” The pickets were called by Haiti’s National Popular Party (PPN), the Haiti Support Network (HSN), the International Action Center (IAC) and the ANSWER Coalition. In Haiti, the PPN has waged a vigorous campaign against the “occupation elections-by-selection.”

Voltaire is joined in his ruse by a handful of other former FL politicians, anxious for a government post at any price, even selling out their exiled leader. But at the Brooklyn meeting, which attracted about 100 mostly curious people, the dominant faction of the splintered Fanmi Lavalas party in New York delivered a letter to Bazin in which they stated that they do “not and will never sanction, endorse or welcome Marc Bazin to New York as a ‘Fanmi Lavalas’ presidential candidate. The actions of Marc Bazin, as well as his handful of renegade Fanmi Lavalas members trying to give him a semblance of Fanmi Lavalas legitimacy, is purely and simply THEFT. They are trying to steal the Fanmi Lavalas name, in an attempt to deceive the ever-vigilant people of Haiti.” After delivering the letter, the emissaries then joined the demonstration outside.

The electoral charade, tentatively scheduled for an unlikely mid-December first-round, is largely scorned and distrusted by the Haitian people. According to the Provisional Electoral Council, about two-thirds of Haiti’s 4.5 million eligible voters have applied for the “mandatory” photo and fingerprint-bearing electoral cards (practically none of which have been delivered). The voter registration claims may be inflated, and many Haitians say they did so only to facilitate obtaining travel visas, drivers licenses, and other government services.