CBC Members to Oversee Haiti’s National Elections

As Haiti prepares for its first presidential and legislative elections since a January earthquake shattered much of the structural infrastructure of the tiny Caribbean country, a delegation of United States congressional representatives led, by House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-SC), departed Sunday to join others overseeing the voting process.

While  Haiti continues to deal with the cholera epidemic that followed Hurricane Tomas, it prepared for the national elections that took place on Sunday, November 28, 2010. The US delegation was charged with trying to ensure that the election was fair and successful.

Members of Congress joining Clyburn on the trip were Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Del. Donna Christian-Christiansen (D-VI), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL), Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA), and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).

U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten briefed the delegation on the electoral process when they arrived Sunday morning in the country’s capital of  Port-au-Prince.  The U.S. government has so far this year invested $8 million in grants to Haiti’s National Democratic Institute and the International Institute for Electoral Systems. The U.S. has also provided $5 million to the electoral fund administered by the U.N. Development Program.

Merten told RTT news that he hoped the Haitian people would “exercise their right to choose their President and their legislators.”

The delegation’s afternoon was spent in  a working lunch with several non-governmental organizations that were overseeing elections, followed by a visit to a voting center, and a situation report from the Organization of American States-Caribbean Community and Common Market (UAS-CARICOM)’s Electoral Observation Mission in Haiti.

Their day concluded Sunday evening with a final election briefing from a special representative to the United Nations Secretary General.  Despite efforts to keep the election process safe and secure, Haiti was embroiled in political unrest as protesters hit the streets last night amid claims of fraud during the elections.

Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt represents small, women, and minority owned business and technology companies at The Ghatt Law Group LLC, the nations’ first communications law firm owned by women and minorities. She's won landmark cases on behalf of her clients which include national civil rights and public interest organizations. In addition to actively authoring several blogs, being a radio show host and sitting on the boards of three non-profits, she is a tech junkie who has been developing online web content since the very early years of the Internet, 1991 to be precise! Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks, on her blog, Jenebaspeaks, which covers the intersection of politics and technology or on her Politics of Raising Children blog at The Washington Times Communities section.

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