March 25, 2011
Chicanery
`A subterfuge used to trick, deceive or evade.’
Michel Martelly has won an unbelievable majority in his election against Mirlande Manigat. This should not come as a surprise for those who know Manigat’s actual popularity, not the popularity generated by the false BRIDE polls created by Reginald Boulos, President of Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce.
Manigat was a few points below dogcatcher, sharing the bottom few slots with Jude Celestin, another person who benefited from the criminal Boulos polls. Boulos also benefitted through the purchase of 100 vehicles, from his car dealership, via Preval/Celestin and a passport for his brother, Senator Rudi Boulos, making him a real person once more.
Marftelly was actually third or fourth in the real popularity polls, behind Jean Henry Ceant and Charles Baker.
And so the massive majority of Haiti’s youn got organized behind Martelly – AND VOTED!!!
Without getting into personal attacks, for character shortcomings – both candidates are far from perfect – Martelly won the election – hands down!!
Now a new game is being played.
Many of Martelly’s backers did not possess Voter Registration Cards, because their original party – LAVALAS – was barred from the process and they did not bother to register. However, the Electoral Law provides for this. Those left off the list can file a Verbal Process and be accepted. However, the process requires a number of signatures, in order to be valid.
Preval told his CEP and their poll workers, to complete the Verbal Process papers without the requisite number of signatures. Then these could be, and will be, challenged as invalid.
This is CHICANERY at its worst. The majority of Haitian voters, and many poll workers, must depend upon others for proper translations of written documents.
What a criminal shame for those who can read to steal the rights of their fellow Haitians, by challenging on these immoral issues.
If this foolishness is allowed to preval, the nation will blow up. Many, Many will dies as a result and – hopefully – among the numbers of those killed – will be those who cheated their fellow Haitians, and the Nation of any chance to move forward.
Enough is enough.
Bad is better than worse/.
Martelly – for all his flaws – won a stunning victory and must now be given the chance to succeed. Everyone should help, not hinder the new government.
Despite the gross injustices inherent in Haiti politics and government, one must rejoice at the prospect of having Martelly ousted as a prospective president. As much as I enjoy this site and its commitment to revealing the abhorrent lies, crimes and conspiracies, I do not understand its unwavering support for another criminal like Martelly. You guys are smarter than this!
Have we forgotten his ties to major drug dealers? His public disavowal of his various babymother’s, and at one point getting up on stage at SOBs and threatening to kill her because he refused to pay child support? How about his mortgage schemes and failure to pay mortgages on over four homes? Or his refusal to debate with Manigat because he all of sudden was “too smart, and had no time” to debase himself in a debate that he knew he would lose. Can you see this buffoon representing your country in any UN, G8 or any major meeting of nations? Pardon, my french but this is a fucking joke and everyone knows it!
Talk about demagogue! It’s an embarrassment to be Haitian and to have this man potentially representing my country. He’s an illiterate, uneducated thug who sings catchy songs laden with profuse profanity! Yes let’s nominate this cross-dressing, diaper wearing joke of a man to be president. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future, yes. But no future as president!
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance…” and this ignorance exhibited by the Haitian people is beyond costly. The blind leading the blind into absolute destruction, establishing a new definition of abjection poverty.
Haiti can sing along to and have their Sisisi, as they continue to hope for a better day. Cause I do not see one in their future with Martelly!
Absolutely!
Let us instal Martelly and get on with life.
He cannot be worse than Preval, or Aristide in his last term
Nothing could be worse than Gerard Latortue!
Martelly could surprise us!
He wants law-and-order, plus education. If he deliveres these facts we are better off than before.
To Alexia. I suppose this site is sort of rooting for Martelly because the American ambassador allegedly said “Bottom line:I want the woman”. Also, in this fixed runoff, Martelly probably would be the winner and it would a shame to repeat the same kind of fraud again and steal the (s)election from an undeserving Martelly and giving it to an equally undeserving Manigat. . However, you are perfectly correct: Sweet Mickey is a bad Haitian male version of a bargain-basement Sarah Palin. A vulgar ignoramus with mysterious friends with deep pockets behind him as evidenced by a pricy Spanish PR firm with right-wing connections behind them. A President Martelly will be no surprise and will never finish out his dubious, illegal term in office. His political life is a death foretold because of his overall ignorance, fiery temperament, and policies that conflict with the desires of the majority of Haitians. The BBC has reported that the voter turnout is not much more than the turnout for the November 28 first round. It is even less than the abysmal 32% reported on this site. Any way you look at it, he has no legitimacy at all in the eyes of most Haitians. Expect conflict in the upcoming months. What a shame!
Jean Paul, indeed you are correct. I do not support any sort of corruption or stealing of any election, be it in Haiti, or any other country. However, given Haiti’s track record of ill-suited, uneducated and uninformed leaders of the state, I would much rather Manigat over Martelly. Not to say that she is the paragon of what Haiti needs but her qualifications far exceeds Martelly’s. Would we ever elect Lil Wayne for President in the US? I think not. Politicians will be politicians. I am sure Manigat will be like the rest, looking to enrich themselves and their cohorts off the blood of Haitians, or via the “Republic of NGOs” as she likes to refer to Haiti. Nevertheless, I am relatively certain that at least with Manigat, we may get the basic education, infrastructure and administration that Haiti so desperately needs.
Martelly can go from here to kingdom come to cover up his seedy past and infantile comportment but shit is shit, no matter how you package it.
All I’m saying is, this stealing of the election may be the first instance in which corruption works to Haiti’s advantage.
Alexis and Jean POaul
You are really my kind of people, and I agree with you.
What you guys are missing is the sad fact that no one stopped this farce before it gained momentum. Something could have been done, when Martelly filed his papers. A polite, quiet visit, before things got too far,m could have snuffed this candidacy in the bud. Unfortunately, the American ambassador is a turkey and though he could accept the WORD of Preval and the CEP.
Now Haiti pays, yet again, for the American and International Community’s stupidity.
Why were we ever faced with a Martelly/Manigat run-off when neither of them placed anywhere near the top two.
The real leaders were Jean Henry Ceant and Baker with either Alexis or Martelly in third/fourth.
The elections should have been canceled in November and new ones held. Then the real winners could have been the realo winners. As it was, Preval fixed things so Baker/Ceant were eliminated and he could instal Manigat. The wild card Martelly has derailed things and so – like or not – this is a Democratic reality.
A jerk has won the vote, fair and square.
The Americans/Canadians and English have elected their fair share of idiots.
Neither one of these candidates rates very high on my charts for ability or morality.
A Sorbonne degree is just so much toilet paper unless the person makes something out of it. Mirlande has really done diddly with her education except campaign for her husband every 5 years, and now for herself.
I have known them for a long time. So long that I can remember the fact that Mirlande was Lesly’s first wife’s best friend. The first wife came home and found them in bed and had a heart attack. While she was in the hospital, she was served with the divorce papers and died of the follow-up heart attack.
Manigat’s main people were all involved with cocaine: St Pierre, Latortue, and her lover Eric Jean-Baptiste..
Martelly, and his family, made big bucks in cocaine, like many other leaders of the Haitian community.
Where were you guys, and people like you, when Haiti needed some loud, honest voices to stop this major crime??
To try and change reality, after it has happened is not realistic.
And, as for the meager 32% vote, that is a substantial one for Haiti. That is more than most elections have drawn in the past, unless tyou believe the lies printed by the UN – OAS, or others. 32% is a good turn out, even in the States or Canada.
Martelly won by a landslide of 80/20.
It is nice to say the 80% were all idiots, but that can be said of any voter base.
Martelly might not last a week, but the voters have said he is the one they want.
That seems to be the unfortunate path of Democracy.
I guess Jean Claude Duvalier wasn’t so bad after all when compared to Aristide, Namphy, Latortue, Preval….
Alexia and Jean-Paul,
You two are perfect examples of what is wrong with Haitian mentality and Haitian politics. You both sit here and claim you are against corruption until it suit your purposes. You don’t like Martelly so it is perfectly ok to commit fraud, deny the people’s vote and derail his presidency because you don’t like him and because of your fear that he’s going to make you look bad.
I have news for you two, you don’t need to worry about Martelly making you look bad, you already did it yourselves. you just proved yourselves to be morally corrupt and lacking in principle and respect for the right of people to freely and fairly pick their leader. That is the essence of democracy, the fact that the majority gets to choose and the person they choose may not be to your liking. I guess you can get folks out of an undemocratic country but you can’t get the undemocratic attitude out of people.
you two need to get the dictatorship mentality out of your system. you two would condone a dictatorship so long as you like the guy chosen! You two are the true reason why Haiti is so messed up. People who can’t reaspect the people’s right to choose. You two are Sore losers, people who don’t know how to congratulate a winner, whether you like him or not.
This website has a democratic mentality, that is why the adminstrator always emphasize that Martelly is not his choice but due to Preval’s trick, Martelly ends up being the people’s choice as a rejection of Preval puppet Celestin and Manigat. So the site report the truth.
This site is not Martelly’s cheerleader but the administrator emphasizes that the vote of the People must be respected at all cost. The people were given two crummy choices and they pick one, now you two like Preval are upset that the people still pick the so-called “wrong” guy. the only way to ensure folks don’t pick the wrong guy is too not give them a choice at all which I’m sure would suit you two just fine.
Thanks again for proving what is wrong with Haiti.
I believe you people have missed an important point in Colonel Collins article.
We sat still when some non-intellectuals made a crime of November 28, and stole the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
We sit still when anyone does anything.
Somehow Martelly is such a bad concept – to some of the 20% that voted for Manigat, or didn’t vote at all – month that 70% that a cry is now set up. Also to suggest 32% turn-out is bad is not a reality in the Democratic process. Some president, in the USA have been voted with less.
Goodness me, Preval was elected first time in 1995 with 5 0r 10 people turning out in polling stations with 450 voters.
Good or bad, the facts are simple. We have elected Martelly via the ballot box and that should be final. To think otherwise means that democracy is not a serious subject.
We should make the best of the situation and hope his cabinet might make a positive difference.
Having said that, there is talk of Martelly naming Bonevert Claude as head of the Central Bank. This personage was a major theif and has no credibility. Let’s hope for better choices for governement.
One of the most laughable things about Sweet Mickey’s electoral platform is his stress on education when the clown pants-dropper ain’t got no edukashun hisself.The only priority in office for him is getting money for himself and friends, set up the Haitian Army Gestapo to protect the oligarchy, and get the sweatshops rolling. Martelly might look presidential in his suits now but he is already way out of his league.
To Jynee, you are a perfect example of people who spout off things without knowing the facts beforehand.
First of all, I have consistently said that I am in favour of democratic rule, I.e. majority rule. I have always been against the whole election process since Lavalas was excluded and because the CEP was the creature of the lame Preval. I have always agreed with Mr Collins about what to do with the elections: cancel them ,start over and do it right. I am NOT a sore loser as I am equally against an ignoramus with drug ties as I am against an intellectual wannabe who speaks French far better than Creole. Once again, Mr Collins is right about Ceant being the real winner.
Jynee misses the point. I am entirely in favour of respecting the people’s right to choose but this was not the case in the March 20 runoff. The two candidates were not fairly elected to those runoff slots.
Jynee is also insane for thinking that I would be a supporter of the venal turncoat rascal that Preval is. I have never written a word in favour of such an incompetent. Thanks to zany people who don’t do their homework, words are put in other people’s mouths. In short, I am vehemently against both Martelly and Manigat and for the real winner: Ceant.
To Mr Collins.I believe the farce could not be stopped because, for a while, the interests of the crafty Preval and the US coincided. There had to be an election, come what may. The chaos and utter destitution mattered little. Some window dressing was in order in spite of the disorder. Preval overplayed his criminal hand with Celestin and the upshot is this mess.
Of course, if the konpas clown got the most votes in this Mickey Mouse election, so be it. My beef, like yours, is that Ceant and Baker were not the runoff candidates. Methinks the president after Martelly (after a short term) will either be Aristide or a protege of his. I shall refrain from any comment about exdictators like Duvalier.
If I did not denounce the November 28 elections on this site it was because I learnt of this site afterwards.