US embassy cable - 05PORTAUPRINCE3005

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 003005 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
DRL 
S/CRS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) 
TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, HA, Elections 
SUBJECT: HAITIAN ID DISTRIBUTION UNDERWAY BUT HAPHAZARD 
 
 
1. Summary: Following many delays, MINUSTAH, the OAS, and the 
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) began distributing ID 
cards throughout Haiti December 2.  The OAS plans to 
distribute all 3.5 million cards by December 31, but the 
process has started slowly and faced several obstacles. 
MINUSTAH said cards were being distributed at one center in 
Saint-Marc without a list assigning voters to their voting 
centers, but the OAS claims all the voters from that 
distribution center will vote in a single voting center. 
Distribution at large centers is chaotic.  Because the OAS, 
MINUSTAH and CEP never created procedures for distributing 
cards, different centers use different techniques of varying 
efficiency.  There is growing concern among Haitians and 
members of the international community observing the process 
that card distribution will not be completed before the first 
round on January 8, 2006.  End Summary. 
 
Delayed Distribution Started December 2 
--------------------------------------- 
 
2. After many logistical and technical delays that forced 
them to redesign the card-distribution plan, the OAS and 
MINUSTAH began December 2 to distribute ID cards throughout 
Haiti.  Under the new plan, instead of distributing cards 
from voting centers, which would have forced anyone picking 
up their card to find out where to vote, the OAS is passing 
out cards at former registration centers.  Workers place a 
sticker on the back of each card and hand-write the location 
of each voter's voting center.  Because of delays receiving 
the stickers, the first registration centers opened in rural 
areas with only one voting center December 2.  On December 4, 
the OAS used 100,000 stickers purchased locally to open four 
large distribution centers in Port-au-Prince.  OAS elections 
chief Elizabeth Spehar reported that 1.5 million stickers 
arrived December 5 and that all distribution centers would be 
open on or shortly after December 8. 
 
OAS: Slow Start does not Jeopardize December 31 Finish 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
3. Spehar said the OAS could distribute almost all the 3.5 
million ID cards by December 31, but distribution has been 
slow thus far.  In order to distribute all the ID cards by 
the end of December, the OAS will have to distribute an 
average of 140,000 cards per day for the next 25 days, which 
Spehar says means distributors must average a maximum of four 
minutes per card.  However, because the registration 
facilities vary widely in their ability to accommodate 
crowds, the OAS has given its employees flexibility 
organizing distribution.  As a result, the process has 
started slowly and the OAS is not yet achieving its 
distribution goals. 
 
Problems in Saint-Marc 
---------------------- 
 
4. The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) and MINUSTAH 
report that in Saint-Marc, a small town 45 miles north west 
of Port-au-Prince, ID card distribution began without a list 
assigning voters to their voting centers.  MINUSTAH elections 
officials said that though voters are assigned to voting 
sites, the information was not delivered to the offices 
distributing cards.  MINUSTAH field reports indicated that 
some areas in Grand-Anse might suffer from the same problem. 
The OAS insists that all of the voters receiving cards at the 
distribution center in question were assigned to the same 
voting center, so the distribution workers did not need a 
list.  OAS staff report that the problem was that the voting 
center in question has four buildings, and the OAS staff 
distributing cards could not tell voters which building they 
should go to.  They said that on election day it would be 
easy for voters to find their voting site because they will 
arrange the voting sites within the center alphabetically. 
 
 
Large Centers Disorganized Inside and Out 
----------------------------------------- 
 
5. The distribution process at large distribution centers is 
disorganized and chaotic.  At Place Jeremie, just south of 
downtown Port-au-Prince, Poloff observed a crowd of 300 
Haitians waiting in a disorderly line to pick up their cards. 
 (Note: The media reported that an elderly woman died of 
asphyxiation while attempting to retrieve her card. End Note) 
 Members of the HNP (3), electoral security guards (10) and 
UNPOL (1) worked to maintain calm and keep the crowd 
organized.  However, the situation in the hot sun was 
somewhat strained; the security elements and the crowd yelled 
at each other intermittently and Poloff observed two members 
of the HNP using their shotguns to push back the crowd. 
Though they complained about the process, registrants said 
they planned to wait to get their cards and expressed hope 
that the process would become smoother in the coming days. 
In addition, the crowd allowed the UNOPS-trained guards, HNP, 
and UNPOL to make a priority line for older and handicapped 
registrants. 
 
5. Inside the center, eight alphabetically organized tables 
were piled with boxes of cards and staffed by two or three 
workers each.  Inside each box, the cards were grouped 
together in bundles with rubber bands.  When a registrant 
presented his or her receipt, the workers at the table used 
their last name to select one or more bundles of cards, which 
they methodically sorted through.  Once they found the 
correct card, the workers affixed a sticker to the card and 
wrote the location of the registrant's voting center.  The 
registrant then signed, or if they could not write, made a 
fingerprint on a form indicating they had received their 
card.  The whole process took between two minutes thirty 
seconds and twelve minutes. 
 
Distribution Techniques Differ by Center 
---------------------------------------- 
 
6. At other centers, OAS workers are using different 
procedures to distribute cards.  Workers at the health clinic 
site at the National Palace had arranged their tables into 
stations.  Voters stopped at one station to pick up their 
card, another to get their sticker and a final station to 
sign for their card.  Meanwhile, PolLES reported that at his 
card distribution center, at the Prime Minister's office, he 
was told that different letters of the alphabet would be 
distributed on different days of the week, beginning with A, 
B and C on Mondays. 
 
Increasing Concern that the OAS will not Finish 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
7. Some members of the CEP, MINUSTAH elections officials, and 
some members of the international community covering 
elections are concerned that the OAS will not finish card 
distribution on time, which could de-legitimize elections. 
In a meeting with the Charge December 5, CEP President Max 
Mathurin said he had written a letter expressing his concern 
about card distribution and production to MINUSTAH elections 
chief Gerard LeChevallier, which had gone unanswered.  The 
Charge advised Mathurin to take his concerns to the PM and 
said post would similarly raise his concern with SRSG Valdes. 
 MINUSTAH elections officials also expressed their concern to 
Poloff.  They said that though the OAS plan appears 
functional on paper, the OAS is not organized enough on the 
ground to pull it off.  Finally, a Canadian political officer 
voiced her concern to Poloff and suggested a meeting between 
MINUSTAH, the CEP, the OAS and some Friends of Haiti 
Ambassadors to try to get the three organizations to work 
together on card distribution. 
 
December 31 Difficult to Call 
----------------------------- 
 
8. Comment: OAS elections chief Elizabeth Spehar is well 
aware that the eyes of the international community are 
focused on card distribution, and that if she fails, she will 
likely be publicly blamed.  OAS workers are still working out 
the kinks of plans for card distribution.  Nonetheless, she 
insists that the OAS can finish card distribution in the 
allotted time without impacting the electoral calendar. 
 
CARNEY