I remember the first time I voted in a presidential election. It was 2008, my freshman year of college, and Barack Obama was running against John McCain. It felt like a big, mature moment; moving out of my parent’s house, sitting in my first college class, voting for the country’s first African-American president. It was all happening in a very short span of time and the voting process was relatively seamless. I just filled out my absentee ballot and voilà, I had voted.
The United States has a relatively efficient and reliable election process in comparison to many places in the world, and yet voter turnout is still pretty low. In the 2012 election, only 58.2% of eligible voters cast a ballot.
So imagine the situation in countries where elections are synonymous with violence and corruption and nobody knows if the winner comes from popular vote or behind-the-scenes might. Why would citizens bother to cast a vote for a system they have such little faith in and where the mere act involves so many risks?
Unfortunately, this is the anxiety surrounding Haiti’s long-awaited second round parliamentary and first round presidential election on October 25. The election is a major moment for the country, which is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. It has struggled with severe corruption and political instability, particularly since the 2010 earthquake. People fear, however, that even though this election is pivotal, violence and disillusionment may keep voters away.
Currently, Haiti has a barely functioning government. There are only 11 elected officials in the entire country and the president, Michel Martelly, has been governing by decree since the country’s parliament was dissolved earlier this year. Martelly has delayed elections on two separate occasions, in 2011 and 2013, and has been barred from rerunning on Sunday. Basically, these elections have been a long time coming.
Haiti’s first round of parliamentary elections, in August, did not set the most promising example and were highly chaotic. Fighting at three of the polling stations in Port-au-Prince was so intense they had to close down, and many other polling stations opened late, causing prospective-voters to abandon their spots in line. Despite the problems, however, Haiti’s electoral council deemed the elections fair, which some experts argue undermined Haitians’ faith in the commission and may make them even less likely to cast a vote this weekend.
Already, election history seems to be repeating itself, and violence in Haiti has spiked. Last weekend, around 15 people (numbers remain unconfirmed) were killed during an outbreak of violence in the Cite Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince. Among those killed were two pregnant women. Apparently, the violence occurred as police were trying to crack down on gang members to secure the neighborhood ahead of elections. (Pretty ironic... violence caused by trying to prevent violence.) Cite Soleil is home to a few hundred thousand Haitians, 2,000 of which have already fled for fear of more pre-election violence.
In order to restore public faith, President Michel Martelly and about a dozen other Haitian leaders appeared on state television and promised the Haitian people elections would be fair, peaceful, and organized. Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki Moon also spoke out, and urged all Haitians to “exercise their democratic right to vote.” Even world-famous Haitian artist, Wyclef Jean, added his voice to the mix and released a song to endorse one of the presidential candidates. Hopefully the messages will sink in, citizens will turn out to vote and politicians will follow through on their promises.
As the Economist argues, it’s not who wins Haiti’s election as much as how they win that matters. Peace and fairness will be crucial in not just ensuring Haitians’ faith in their government but also the world’s faith in Haiti. A democratic government should always have the safety, well-being, and best interests of their citizens in mind, and Haitians have been held back by the country’s corruption and collapsed infrastructure for far too long. Electricity, education and governance are the country’s biggest shortcomings, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. In other words, the very things a country needs to function.
Global Goal 16 is peace and justice, and specifically calls for effective, accountable and inclusive institutions. Haiti’s elections will put this goal to the test, and hopefully provide a roadmap for other unstable countries to hold effective and successful elections of their own.
Many countries around the world-- from Libya to Burkina Faso to Iraq-- are struggling with the simplest yet most formidable aspect of democracy: the right to vote, the right for every voice to be fairly heard. Haiti can break the trend of dysfunction with a fair election this Sunday.
Go to TAKE ACTION NOW to tell the world why we need the Global Goals to be a success and support Haiti and the global right to fair governance.