30 November 2006

Port-au-Prince, Haiti: On Sunday, 3 December, Haitians will cast their vote in local and municipal elections. Due to their significance for the politics of decentralization, the elections are considered extremely important for the future of the country, as President Préval and the head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Edmond Mulet, recently declared.

In collaboration with the Organization of American States (OAS), MINUSTAH supports the government’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) in organizing the elections. According to its mandate, the UN mission assists the Haitian government in the organization of transparent and credible elections in a secure climate.

As part of the mission, UNV volunteers are at the forefront of electoral preparations. “26 UNV volunteers make up the core of MINUSTAH’s Electoral Assistance Section” (EAS), says Carlos Currie, Chief of Operations and Logistics Unit. They coordinate with the Department Joint Electoral Support Center (DJESC) to deploy voting kits and sensitive material like ballots and tally sheets to each of the 9,231 polling stations across the country in time. Moreover, UNV volunteers join the MINUSTAH team in the re-verification and evaluation of voting centers and play a central role in monitoring the training of poll workers.

Particularly in the rural regions of Haiti, UNV volunteers carry a huge responsibility. Due to the country’s poor infrastructure, transporting the required material to remote places can become a big challenge. Currently, some regions are facing distribution problems caused by the heavy rain that further erodes the already poor road conditions. If the rain continues until Sunday, half of the voting centers in the Nippes department could be unreachable. In this case, material will have to be transported by mule, horse or on foot.

However, lessons learned from precedent presidential and legislative elections earlier this year have made it easier to carry out the electoral preparations. ”The preparation of the forthcoming elections has become a routine”, as Burundian UNV volunteer Julien Ndayiragije, Electoral District Coordinator in the North-East Department, explains.

The Haitian elections are an outstanding opportunity for UNV volunteers to prove the efficiency, professionalism, and sense of responsibility. Despite challenging working conditions, they make valuable contributions to the successful preparation of elections. “EAS is very proud of our UNV Volunteers who have worked endlessly to contribute to the stabilization of Haiti”, Currie emphasizes.