IN BETTER times, organising elections in Haiti has never been easy. The current chaos that prevails in the country will make more difficult the administration of the elections that are planned for later this year. It is not surprising that the authorities this week said that they will be extending deadline for voter registration.
The target set by Gabriel Valdes, the United Nations envoy in Haiti, of registering 3.5 million of the estimated six million eligible voters is immediately threatened by political unrest and violence that have been troubling the country.
Haitians have little reason to expect that the voting will bring an end to their troubles. The interim government of Gerard Latortue is increasingly impotent. The police, undermanned and poorly equipped, is only marginally effective in parts of Port-au-Prince, the capital.
The U.N. force, euphemistically described as 'peace keepers', is reluctant to confront gangs that control parts of the capital, and many of the bigger towns. Disorder prevails in most parts of the country.
The U.N., the peacekeepers, Mr Latortue and the Americans and French who have installed him are all in no position to generate enthusiasm among Haitians for first registering to vote, and then exercising that vote.
The pain for Haiti is this: the elections are needed to restore a semblance of law and order, to clear the concerns of countries that say they want to help but will not until an elected government is in place, and to give Haitians some breathing space in which they can try to end decades of economically painful instability.
For Haitians to be encouraged, the U.N., the United States and the French must make clear the nature of their continued support for the country after the voting. The elections by themselves will not produce what Haiti needs.
One need is an efficient constabulary that can deal with the rampant gangs, and which must be supported by continued and increased foreign military assistance for some years to come.
Another is the rebuilding and reform of fundamental institutions that have been corrupted, such as the civil service and the judiciary. By all indications, Haitians have lost confidence in these pillars of social order.
A pressing need also is for credible and effective government after the election, and not one that is forced to confine itself to the capital, but which can be nationally effective through restructured provincial councils.
All this must be supported by indications from those who promised an improvement after the departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former president; of the nature and volume of the economic assistance that all agree is the most immediate need for the country.
Haitians, weary of the current chaotic environment, will not be encouraged to vote by being told that the country is getting used guns from the U.S. They will be more inclined to do so if they are told why it will be good for them.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
