Elections will be crucial step in Haiti's path to recovery

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Along the hardened edges of a sprawling public plaza-turned survivors camp, children run through cascading water, women wash clothes and Elusner Marcellus, 31, is thinking about making it through another day. The last thing on his mind are elections.

``A people who is hungry, who is living in misery can't think about going to elections,'' said the disillusioned street vendor.

But not far from Champs de Mars in the tony hills of Petionville, Haiti's yet-to-be-scheduled elections are the topic du jour as more than a dozen of this country's most powerful businesspeople spend the day discussing how to keep politics from derailing the earthquake-battered nation's slow recovery.

That parallel universe is the dilemma facing Haitian President René Préval and the international community as Haiti prepares to be without a functioning parliament after most members' terms run out on Monday, and attentions are divided between day-to-day survival and political reality.

``I understand we are in a difficult situation where people are not thinking about elections, but it's also clear that the democratic process has to continue,'' Préval said last week. ``We cannot leave the country without a parliament. We cannot leave the country without mayors. We cannot leave the country without a president.''

GLOBAL HELP

So concerned that a new tremor could cause further destabilization, Haiti's partners -- among them the United States, Canada, the Organization of American States and the United Nations -- have all dispatched top lieutenants here for a Monday meeting with Préval.

``You have to send the right signals out there to be able to have a stable democratic process because that will enable you to do your economic development; it will enable you to do as well your social development,'' Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon told The Miami Herald during a visit here last week. ``Ultimately, we are asking people to come in here. . . . If that environment is perceived to be unstable, obviously there is going to be enormous reticent to doing something.''

Last week, Haiti's lower chamber voted in favor of allowing Préval to remain until May 14, 2011 -- five years to the date he assumed power -- should his successor not be elected by Feb. 7. The senate is expected to vote Monday, and Préval spent Saturday meeting with key senators in hopes of getting their support.

As of Monday, Haiti's parliament will cease to exist as a law-making body because the mandate of the entire lower chamber of deputies, and one-third or 10 senators would have expired -- preventing the passage of critical laws.

With that new reality facing Haiti, Préval's opponents have criticized his request, calling it a power grab. They've demanded that he leave on Feb. 7, the date scheduled for the inauguration of a new president and that an interim government be installed to organize elections for all 144 mayors, 99 deputies, 11 senators and president.

``We have an opposition that doesn't want stability,'' said Sen. Moise Jean-Charles, a Préval supporter. ``It's just a matter of formality.''

The United States and others are all opposed to an interim government, fearing that it could create instability or uncertainty. Monday's discussions, which will include U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryl Mills; OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin and CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Colin Granderson will focus on how to avoid an interim government. They'll discuss a yet-to-be publicized UN report that found elections are possible ``technically, logistically and financially,'' but there are things Préval must do to kick-start the process.

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