Haiti - Elections : National Office of Identification fingered
The National Network for the Defence of Human Rights (Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains RNDDH) and the National Council election observers (Conseil National des Observations Électorales CNO) have formed a partnership which is part of the work of supervision and observation of the electoral process.
The delegation RNDDH/CNO in a first report notes that if the official Haitians and foreigners are pleased to have very implemented for the realization of a free poll, honest and democratic, on the ground, reality is very different. According to its first observations "The ONI is not up to the task assigned, namely, providing the national identification card for citizens who file the request" Additionally the report notes that "people have filed applications for several months or several years, are still not satisfied [...] thousands of cards [some] since 2005 are still unclaimed by their owners and no effort is made by those responsible to deliver them [...] Jacmel 2.010), Gonaïves (8,000) and Cap-Haitien (8,500) for a total of 18,510 cards not yet issued to their own " The delegation regretted the lack of personnel and conditions difficult environment in which these staff.
For its part Seitenfus Ricardo, Secretary General of the OAS states that since 2005, a program [ONI] was implemented with the assistance of the OAS to provide the population of a national identification card which also serves as electoral card "according to the surveys we have made, many victims had their card on them and have not lost it during the earthquake [which contradicts the testimony of many stricken] we did an initial estimate of 150,000 cards to replace those lost and for new voters. The National Identification Office has installed 141 offices throughout the country to distribute these cards [...] We stored 700.000 additional cards in New York that we could bring in 48 hours if necessary.
In this report, the delegation concluded that the electoral process is marred by serious irregularities and major problems which could affect the election on November 28, 2010 and indirectly threaten the stability of the country.
