February 01, 2011
On Sunday, Hillary Clinton, speaking with Bob Schieffer of CBS’s Face the Nation urged Egypt’s authoritarian ruler, Hosni Mubarak, to begin the process for “free, fair, and credible elections.” Protestors have taken to the streets for over a week calling for democratic change and for Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt with US support for nearly 30 years, to step down.
Yet on the same day that she made those comments Hillary Clinton also traveled to Haiti to discuss a different election, one that was not free, fair nor credible, but that she never the less supports. Clinton was not in Haiti to call for new elections, nor was she pressuring the government to make the necessary changes (reforming the CEP, allowing all political parties to participate) to ensure an actual free, fair and credible electoral process.
She was there to push for the adoption of a controversial OAS report. The report, although it “identified significant irregularities, which it believed influenced the outcome of the first round of the presidential election”, recommended changing the preliminary results and moving forward with a second round. CEPR has conducted an analysis of the OAS’ report, finding “serious flaws” and “unsupported conclusions”. For one, the OAS recommends changing the outcome of the election without even conducting a full recount.
Today, 19 Haitian and international organizations are calling on the US administration to:
[C]ease supporting the OAS Verification Mission recommendations. This constitutes an attempt to arbitrarily change the results of the elections and force the people of Haiti to accept an election and electoral process that do not express the people’s will. Furthermore, we request that the U.S. administration work with Haitian authorities to carry out the fair and inclusive elections that Haiti needs in order to move forward. Though it may take a few more months to meet the necessary conditions for such elections to be held, the benefits for Haitian democracy and recovery far outweigh the potential costs.
Adding their voice to these 19 organizations is Rep. John Conyers, who released a statement yesterday which stated:
I disagree with her [Hillary Clinton] unequivocal support of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) recommendations addressing voter fraud in the previous election. In order to ensure that all Haitian voices are heard in this election, the electoral process should be restarted.
