Post-Disaster Assessment on the Feasibility of Organizing Free and Fair Elections in Haiti
Executive Summary
During the months of March and April 2010, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) carried out a technical assessment, including an evaluation on the current state of the electoral registry in light of the massive changes in the population, the enfranchisement of Internally-Displaced Persons (IDP), and security environment. IFES also evaluated the needs and challenges facing the Haitian Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), and its decentralized Departmental and Communal Electoral Offices (BEDs and BECs) in the future organization of elections, including but not limited to out-of-country voting, identification cards and voter lists, infrastructure, communications, resources, the overall political environment and the role of civil society. This assessment includes an analysis of the Constitution with regards to scheduling future elections, as well as their sequencing and the legal implications for extending mandates.
The IFES team was comprised of the Chief of Party, one national consultant and one international legal expert who spent a period of two weeks in country. The team’s strategy was to meet as many stakeholders as possible during the first month and a half of the mission, both in Port-au-Prince and in the field, to gather all the necessary information, and then spend the last two weeks drafting the final report.
