US embassy cable - 05PORTAUPRINCE2781

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 002781 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
DRL 
S/CRS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, HA, Elections 
SUBJECT: HAITI ID CARD PRINTING SLOW, DISTRIBUTION SLOWER 
 
 
1. Summary: Over one million ID cards are now in Haiti, but 
they are not being distributed in large numbers because the 
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) wants to wait until 
voting centers are selected.  Polling places are supposed to 
be identified on the cards.  Meanwhile, card printing is 
behind schedule.  Even though the printer has over one 
million records on hand and a contract that stipulates it 
must print 500,000 ID cards per week, it has never exceeded 
350,000 and has printed an average 200,000 - 250,000 per 
week.  End Summary 
 
2. Over one million ID cards have arrived in Haiti, but 
distribution has not begun in earnest pending voting center 
selection (reftel).  The OAS started card distribution at 
three former registration centers designated as voting 
centers in downtown Port-au-Prince, but most of the ID cards 
sit in the OAS election headquarters.  The OAS distributed 
cards for one day on October 21 at Place Jeremie, a square 
just south of downtown Port-au-Prince in a heavily populated 
neighborhood, but CEP member Pierre Richard Duchemin 
instructed them to halt, ostensibly because Place Jeremie has 
not been officially sanctioned as a polling site. 
 
3. The OAS, MINUSTAH, and CEP blame each other for not 
picking voting centers.  Legally, the CEP is supposed to pick 
voting centers with advice from MINUSTAH and the OAS.  The 
CEP originally agreed to 600 voting centers in consultation 
with MINUSTAH, but later, under pressure from political 
parties, announced that it would need 2000 voting centers. 
MINUSTAH countered that it was only equipped to provide 
security and logistical support to 800 centers, though 
privately MINUSTAH elections officials say they could handle 
up to 900 centers.  After several fact-finding missions, the 
CEP submitted a list of 1786 voting centers to MINUSTAH, 
which MINUSTAH elections officials complained was simply 
copied from the 2000 election list of voting centers, and now 
out of date.  According to MINUSTAH elections officials, 
MINUSTAH submitted a list of 802 voting centers to the CEP 
November 7 and expects to present the list to the members of 
the CEP November 8. 
 
4. OAS election chief Elizabeth Spehar reported October 28 
that Digimarc, the ID card printing company printing Haitian 
IDs has not fulfilled its contractual obligation to print 
500,000 cards per week.  Spehar said Digimarc had been 
printing between 200,000 and 250,000 cards per week, but had 
just started running its plant 24 hours per day and printed 
350,000 cards the first week of November.  However, CEP 
Director General Jacques Bernard pointed out that even if 
Digimarc could print 350,000 per week, it would finish its 
printing run of roughly 3.4 million just before the December 
18 first round, leaving no time to distribute cards.  Spehar 
said she had involved the OAS, legal department, which would 
push Digimarc to meet its contract.  Bernard, skeptical, said 
he would send someone to monitor the printing process and 
feed daily production reports back to Haiti.  If Digimarc 
fails to hit 500,000, Bernard said there are two options to 
get the IDs printed: use other Digimarc facilities to finish 
the printing or subcontract part of the printing to one of 
Digimarc,s competitors. 
 
5. Comment: ID cards are not necessary to the vote.  The 
voting sites will have photographs of all voters assigned to 
them and the electoral law already allows voting with 
registration receipts.  Voters who do not have their receipts 
could also conceivably vote with the document (or persons) 
they used to register in conjunction with their photograph on 
the voter rolls.  However, widest possible distribution of ID 
cards would increase voter turnout and confidence in the 
electoral process.  We continue to offer Bernard full USG 
support in pressing Digimarc to meet the terms of its 
contract. 
 
CARNEY