Overview

The success of the U.S. Government strategy in Haiti is predicated on a credible, legitimate counterpart in the Government of Haiti (GOH). Effective and representative institutions are essential to improve the quality of governance in Haiti, thereby bolstering stability and government legitimacy. USAID activities aim to strengthen GOH, political party, and civil society capacity to organize and monitor regular and inclusive elections that meet international standards for transparency and fairness.

Although elections are essential for Haiti’s democratic growth and for continued progress in post-earthquake reconstruction and development, lack of political consensus among Haiti’s leaders has impeded progress toward this objective. In January 2015, Haiti’s Parliament had effectively lapsed, with the expiration of the terms of the entire Chamber of Deputies and all but ten of Haiti’s 30 Senate seats. Under provisions of the Haitian Constitution, the President then began a period of governance by executive order, with the responsibility to “ensure regular government operations and continuity of the State.”

Following Parliament’s lapse, President Michel Martelly named a new consensus government and swore in a new Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) as demanded by the opposition. After receiving comments from political parties, the CEP drafted an electoral decree that President Martelly issued on March 4, 2015, and an electoral calendar followed shortly after.

Elections were scheduled for August 9, 2015, for first round of legislative elections (20 senators and 118 members of the Chamber of Deputies); October 25, 2015, for local government, first-round presidential elections and Parliament run-off elections; and December 27, 2015, for the run-off round of the presidential elections. The August and October elections were held as scheduled, but the December elections have been postponed. Organizing and holding these elections has been a vastly complex process, with over 1,500 open posts to be contested by over 100 political parties.

Objectives

In partnership with the international community, USAID seeks to support a credible democratic electoral process. This includes:

• Long-term technical assistance to Haitian electoral institutions;
• Support for international and domestic election observation;
• Capacity building for political parties, civic education; and
• Election security and logistical support for elections.

Key Activities 

• Assistance to the Provisional Electoral Council via an approximately $9.7 million contribution to the donor basket fund managed by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP);
• Support for elections logistics through a roughly $7.6 million contribution to the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS);
• Improve outreach and communications capacity of the CEP, develop civic and voter education materials, and work with the CEP to ensure that women and persons with disabilities are fully integrated into every aspect of the electoral process through an award of more than $5 million to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS)/International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES); and
• Build the capacity of a coalition of Haitian civil society organizations to provide credible oversight of the elections, train young leaders, mitigate the risk of electoral violence, hold issue-based dialogues and candidate debates, and advocate for the implementation of a 30 percent gender quota through an award of more than $7 million to CEPPS/National Democratic Institute (NDI).

Anticipated Results

Together with our partners in the international community, USAID’s support to Haiti’s electoral process seeks to:

1. Build the capacity of the Haitian electoral authorities to conduct credible, inclusive, and legitimate elections that genuinely reflect the will of the Haitian people;
2. Strengthen the capacity of non-partisan election observers to detect and deter electoral fraud and prevent and mitigate election-related violence in conflict-prone areas; and
3. Assist Haitian civil society organizations, political parties, and electoral authorities in increasing women’s participation in the process as voters, candidates, and poll-workers.