It has now been widely acknowledged that Haiti’s natural disaster could rapidly turn into a political fiasco if elections are not held promptly and in a manner that is free, fair and credible. On May 8, the terms of one-third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives— and, by extension, the Parliament—expired. In addition, the terms of all local officials will expire in early to mid-2011, and the President’s term expires on February 7 of next year. If elections do not take place before the end of the year, Haiti will soon be without elected officials to run its national and local institutions

While the Haitian people continue to rebuild their lives, it is essential that the government, with the help of the international donor community, begin to implement a plan to get democratically-elected leaders back into office. A valid government is not only best able to oversee the rehabilitation of the country so that Haitians begin to experience the effect of the millions of dollars pledged and donated by the international community, Haitians have also been vocal about the desire to have a valid government. Earlier this month, protests broke out against the extension of the Emergency Law and the extension of President Préval’s term until May 2011 if elections are not held this year [per the Constitution Préval’s term ends in early February 2011].

IFES recently completed an assessment of Haiti’s readiness to hold elections that sheds light into what needs to be done to make elections happen as soon as possible. The Post-Disaster Assessment on the Feasibility of Organizing Free and Fair Elections in Haiti, a study conducted for the United States Agency for international Development (USAID), confirms that while Haitians’ first priority is to get jobs and get their lives back on track, they continue to believe in being ruled by democratically-elected leaders. The assessment also shows that the operational arm of the Provisional Elections Commission (CEP for its acronym in French) is ready to implement elections as soon as logistically possible if it can count on the support of the international donor community.

Haitian President René Garcia Préval recently hinted at the possibility of holding elections at the end of this year. There are three first steps that Haiti must take to be able to implement elections in 2010. First, the CEP must begin preparing voter lists and reestablishing the electoral infrastructure. This challenge is now magnified due to the more than 600,000 internally displaced persons and over 1,000,000 people living in shelters that must be accounted for in the early planning stages of the electoral process.

The National Identification Office must produce and distribute national identification cards to new voters, those who lost them before or after the earthquake, and make address changes, while the CEP must assign those displaced by the earthquake to new polling centers near their current places of residence.

Second, Haiti needs the support of electoral experts who have worked under conditions of similar duress to implement valid elections. Elections are complex operations that require specific know-how and experience to anticipate and troubleshoot problems before and on Election Day.

Third, a comprehensive public information campaign will need to be initiated nation-wide by the CEP. For elections to be successful , it is necessary that the citizens are educated about their choices and have all the necessary information, including where to get their ID cards and  where and how to vote. Haiti has a high level of illiteracy and, historically, has done a poor job of educating citizens on the electoral process. This, coupled with the new confusions due to relocation and internal-displacement, as well as the historic distrust in the CEP as a body, makes  a widespread informational campaign about the upcoming elections imperative.