[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15089-H15090]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ELECTIONS IN HAITI

  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, while we were at work here this past weekend 
trying to get out of the budget stalemate we are in, there were events 
going on in the world that are of very, very great importance to 
American interests.
  In Russia, as you know, there are elections there. We are now sifting 
through and sorting out exactly what those elections meant.
  Initially, though, not very much noticed at all, were other elections 
nearby in the small, tiny nation of Haiti, just to our south, a 
friendly neighboring country. It is an election that Americans had a 
great stake in, primarily because we have invested on a per-capita 
basis probably more money in that election than any other in recent 
history. We have a huge American taxpayer dollar investment there in 
the growth of democracy, and I think it is very important that we have 
a full assessment of the way the moneys have been spent and how that 
tiny nation is doing on its path to democracy.
  I think the important thing to say now is that the good news from 
Haiti is that there is no bad news; but the bad news is there is not 
much good news either.
  Haiti did not have full, fair, free elections. But they did have a 
step in the right direction because they were able to carry out 
elections on a countrywide basis for a new President without any of the 
violence that we have seen in previous elections in that country.
  The IRI [International Republic Institute] was there monitoring the 
progress of their elections, and they concluded in the conversations 
that I had in a telephone conversation with our on-the-ground team that 
what happened on Sunday in Haiti was important but it was not 
conclusive. So I think we are in a position now where we have got a 
pretty good assessment of the electoral process underway, the technical 
problems they had. What we do not have is a full assessment of what 
happened and where we are going now to justify the investment of 
taxpayer dollars and the American troops we have had there and what we 
should do next.
  I think it is clear that we had low numbers in the Haitian election 
both in terms of candidates who are participating and in terms of voter 
turnout. The estimates in voter turnout are called light. The election 
was called lackluster, uninspiring. There are a lot of reasons for 
that.
  It is true there are a lot of candidates who did not run, for a 
variety of reasons. Primarily the presidential campaign time was a very 
abbreviated time. It was about 4 weeks or so, and the campaign tactics 
themselves were nearly invisible. There was not a lot of campaigning, 
and there was not a lot of interest generated in the country as a 
result through the normal campaign tactics that you see for a 
presidential election.
  The fact that much of the loyal opposition, including several of its 
major parties, boycotted the elections is not a good sign for 
democracy. People who feel compelled to go outside the system and will 
not participate inside the system and do not feel welcome or feel 
frustrated or feel it is so tilted they cannot have a fair chance 
clearly are making a statement when they say, ``We are being forced 
outside the system.''
  It is also a fact that in Haiti, I think voter fatigue is a 
possibility. They have had a lot of elections, and I think that an 
awful lot of voters are saying the same things to reporters today they 
were saying to me after the parliamentary elections in June, and that 
is,

       Why should we keep voting for this democracy thing? I still 
     do not have a job. I am still hungry. My family is still 
     hungry. I voted three times. Nothing is better. I am not sure 
     democracy works. The only thing I know is Aristide is my 
     hero.

  And unfortunately, Aristide was not on the ballot because 
constitutionally he cannot succeed himself, and a lot of people 
probably stayed home because the person they wanted to vote for they 
could not vote for, so they registered their objection that way.
  I think many others stayed home because the election was clearly, 
those who were organized were the one party that was ready for it and 
had all of the resources and the blessing apparently of the 
international parties, and they 

[[Page H15090]]
just steamrolled it and apparently, when the election results come in, 
everybody believes widely there will be one very clear winner, not 
anybody really in second place. I do not know if that will be true. I 
think that is a feeling that probably kept people from voting.
  In any event, when you have a countrywide presidential election that 
is supposed to be the most historic event in the peaceful turnover of 
democracy in the whole history of the country's 200 years and you only 
get somewhere between 20 and 30 percent turnout, clearly it is not 
working quite the way it should be.
  Security was better. Law and order was better. Of course, it would be 
if you have Humvees with machine guns and soldiers mounted all over the 
place and running around from place to place insuring nothing gets out 
of hand. So we have somewhat of an artificial situation there about law 
and order.
  Regrettably, as in every election, we had intimidations that kept 
candidates out. We had the media shut down through intimidations. We 
had allegations of misuse of dollars, all of those kinds of things. 
These things need a full accounting and full investigation.
  Then the President needs to come to Congress and consult and tell 
Congress and the American people how we spent our money, what we have 
got for it, and where we are going next. I urge the President, Mr. 
Speaker, very much this time to consult with Congress before we get 
into the next chapter of what our relations are going to be with Haiti. 
I would hate to have to debate another invasion here, because we are 
seeing one more time a flood of refugees coming to the United States, 
and the administration's reaction is to send the military.
  The economy does not work in Haiti. We know that. We need to have a 
full accounting. We need to know where we are going, and I urge the 
administration to check with the U.S. Congress. We are here to help.

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