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NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009
INTERNATIONAL
ROBERT J. DOLE
INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
The University of Kansas
785-864-4900
www.doleinstitute.org
Voters few and far between in Haitian election
BY JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press
Electoral workers look through a list of voters during Senate elections at a polling station in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Sunday. Turnout for the election was extremely low.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Clear plastic ballot boxes were nearly as empty as Port-au-Prince's unusually deserted streets Sunday as few voters turned out for Senate elections in which candidates from a major populist party were not allowed to run.
But the vote, delayed since 2007 by political turmoil, hunger riots and storms, drew an extremely low turnout and occasional violence. Haiti's provisional electoral council told reporters it had not calculated turnout or any results as of early evening.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The vote had been seen as a key step in the development of Haitian democracy and in President Rene Preval's bid to retool the constitution and fight poverty. The international community gave Haiti's government $12.5 million to coordinate the elections, including $3 million from the U.S.
Others said they had trouble reaching the polls because police had ordered public transportation closed in an attempt to preserve order.
Supporters of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose Fanni Lavals party was disqualified from the election by Haitis provisional electoral council, had urged an estimated 4 million registered voters not to participate.
On Sunday, poll workers napped during long stretches when no voters came by. Some would be voters carrying government-issued registration cards said they had been turned away by poll workers who said their names were not on registration lists.
"When you see this kind of low turnout, you have to wonder
vying for 12 Senate seats. No results were expected Sunday. Most races had multiple candidates and were likely to end in run-offs.
how interested people are in an election," said Edward Joseph, an observer with the Haiti Democracy Project, a Washington-based think tank. He said apathy or fear of election violence could be to blame.
"When you see this kind of low turnout, you have to wonder how interested people are in an election."
Lavalas claimed victory for Sunday's poor showing, crediting a stop-the-vote campaign they nicknamed "Operation Closed Door."
"The people believe in Fanmi
EDWARD JOSEPH Haiti Democracy Project
A total of 79 candidates were
Lavalas. That is why they did not come out today," James Derozin, a former Lavalas lawmaker, told a reporters as polls closed around 4 p.m. Other Lavalas loyalists vowed to seek Preval's resignation if Sunday's results are accepted.
ital blamed the low turnout on voter apathy after what they said were years of broken promises by elected leaders.
Others in the cap-
"Since I've lived in Cite Soleil, nobody has come through for us. We don't trust anyone. We are we
going to vote for?" said Fritznor Remedor, a native of the oceanside slum who directs a U.S.-supported orphanage at the site of a former gang stronghold.
Calm generally reigned during the vote. While past elections have occasioned massacres and riots, Sunday's carless streets were
instead occupied by young men and boys playing dozens of pick-up soccer games.
But there were several violent incidents. Elections were canceled in the Central Department, one
of Haiti's 10 administrative regions, after protesters raided polling places and dumped ballots in the streets of the central plateau town of Mirebalais.
council director general Pierre Louis Opont. Police said a man was arrested after firing guns to intimidate voters.
The council does not know who was responsible for incident but has ruled out Lavalas backers. Opont said. A date for replacement elections in the department will be
A poll supervisor was shot there around 3 a.m. Sunday and is recovering in the hospital, said electoral
"We don't trust anyone. Who are we going to vote for?"
FRITZNOR REMEDOR Cite Soleil, Haiti resident
set later, he added.
In Cite Soleil, supporters of Prevales Leswpapartysmashed the windows of a Toyota Land Cruiser carrying Union party supporter and Haitian folk singer Barbara Guillaume, who said she was bringing food and documents
Lespwa supporters said she was carrying money and food to bribe voters into supporting her candidate. Police fired shots to disperse the crowd, attackers with rifle butts and took them to Cite Soleil's new, U.S.-financed police station,
to poll workers in Cite Soleil.
where other Lespai supporters threw rocks at the building.
They were released after their candidate, former Lavalas organizer and Cite Soleil native John Joel Joseph, visited the station. Guillaume was held without charges for about an hour and released.
Shortly after returning from the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, Preval dropped his vote into a nearly empty clear plastic ballot box at a school in the capital. If his candidates win, Preval could see his economic projects and constitutional reform pass congress, where his Lespwa party already holds six of 18 Senate seats.
A majority for Lespwa would help Preval win a long-sought reform of Haiti's 1987 constitution, increasing executive powers and allowing presidents to seek consecutive five-year terms. It would also build support for his economic programs, meant to relieve poverty in a nation where 80 percent of people live on less than $2 a day.
SENATE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
because of the structure of the elections code could not find them guilty.
The commission said the elections code currently did not hold candidates liable for the actions of the coalition as a whole and he recommended that the code be changed before next year's election.
"It makes you look like a bunch of schmucks and you should be held accountable," Knutzen said to Heilman and Davis following the commission's decision. "I think the code should say you should be held liable, but it doesn't."
The commission heard two additional complaints regarding mass e-mails that were sent by Heilman and senator Darrell
Stuckey, Kansas City, Kan., senior promoting themselves and their platforms.
The commission unanimously found Heilman guilty of using an academic listserv to promote the election of a candidate. He was fined $250.
would have fined Stuckey the full $250.
"I think the code should say you should be held liable, but it doesn't."
THOMAS KNUTZEN
Student Senate
hearing board
"The hearing board didn't clearly understand the way listservs function until after testimony given in Mason's case," Herman said.
Stuckey was also charged with sending multiple unsolicited e-mails and was fined $100.
Herman said if information that was presented in the case against Heilman had been available in the previous case against Stuckey, the commission
Heilman said he was pleased with the board's decisions.
their reasoning and I think now we're in a place where we can move forward and start putting together an administration once we get May's appeal behind us," Heilman said.
"Ithinkthe hearing board was very fair in
— Edited by Liz Schubauer
HUMANITIES LECTURE SERIES 2008-2009
event is free and open to the public. No tickets require
785-864-4798 • www.hallcenter.ku.edu
CRIMES (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
No injuries were reported.
Dipesh Chakrabarty, the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, is a leading scholar of subaltern studies. His books include Rethinking Working Class History. Bengali 1890-1940 and Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Chakrabarty's current work focuses on the development of history as a profession in South Asia in the first half of the twentieth century and its relationship to public life. He has also been working on changing forms of mass politics in the subcontinent.
THE DECLINE & PROSPECT OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT
AT EAST 23RD STREET
ROADHOUSE
April 20, 2009 | Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union | 7:30 p
Hall Center Conference Hall
Officers found and arrested the suspect — a 22-year-old man from Fort Riley — on charges of disorderly conduct and possession of a weapon in or near a bar.
This series is co-sponsored by Kangsa Public Radio. Partial funding for the Humanities Lecture Series is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities' 2000 Challenge Grant.
"A Conversation with Dipesh Chakrabarty" April 21, 10 a.m.
Additional Event
Lawrence police request that anyone with information regarding the crime or suspect call the police department at (785) 832-7509 or the TIPS hotline at (785) 843-TIPS.
Edited by Liz Schubauer
The suspect was described as a white male in his 20s. No additional information was released.
Lawrence police were called to East 23rd Street Roadhouse, 1003 E. 23rd Street, at about 3 a.m. Sunday in response to a man threatening an employee with a weapon, or aggravated assault.
scene in his vehicle.
Lawrence police were called to Club Axis, 821 Iowa St., at about 1:25 a.m. Sunday in response to an armed subject, Fellers said in a media release.
A 20-year-old Lawrence man had been thrown out of the bar.
FIREARM AT CLUB AXIS
The man was arrested. No injuries were reported.
When staff followed him out to the parking lot, he threatened an employee with an aluminium bat taken from his car.
HOMELESS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
said. "It gave us a good scope on how real life would be if you're homeless."
Although Nielsen said the project helped fraternity members understand what life was like without a home, he said it wasn't close to actually experiencing homelessness. The shelter had a rain tarp to keep them from getting wet, electricity and lawn chairs for members to sit on while they talked and listened to music inside.
"We get to relax and listen to some music," Matt Geier, Garden City senior and Tau Kappa Epsilon member, said. "We're a little more well off than the homeless considering we have an iPod."
Stephen Elder, case manager and monitor at the Lawrence Community Shelter, said the shelter was thankful for any kind of help it received. He said the shelter didn't receive much federal funding, so it relied on donations and volunteer work from the community. He said the fraternity's method of fundraising was helpful, if untraditional.
Tau Kappa Epsilon contacted Hy-Vee about building the shelter and taking donations outside the store.
Scott Kahler, Hy-Vee general manager, said the store agreed to help the fraternity because it was working for a good cause. He said he was concerned about the event in the beginning, but customers were very receptive to the project. Greir said the fraternity didn't want to depend on the greek or KU community for the project, but instead involve the entire Lawrence community.
“Anything that anybody does to get the awareness up is a good thing.” Elder said. “Even if it seems a little silly, it works.”
"People were just thanking us," Nielsen said. "But we were like 'Really, no. Thank you for what you're giving."
Edited by Sonya Enalish
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