Elections management assistance

Activities will include: strengthening Haiti"s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), procuring equipment (e.g., ballot boxes), supporting international observer missions and civic education efforts, and supporting democratic institutions such as political parties and an independent press. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) will be the primary implementors. IFES will help CEP, which is the lead Haitian agency in charge of the 11/90 elections, with: (1) training of election officials, pollworkers, political party observers, etc.; (2) design/procurement of ballots, ballot boxes, voting booths, indelible ink, and the like; (3) a public education campaign to teach voting procedure and assure voters the process will be safe and fair; (4) administration of the total electoral process, including ballot security and the counting and certification of results. In addition to IFES, the following NED institutes/subgrantees will participate in the project: the National Democratic and Republican Institutes for International Affairs (NDI, NRI), the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), and America"s Development Foundation (ADF). NDI and NRI will organize a 30-member international election observer mission and will support (on a non-partisan basis) the development of political parties. NDI will also support pre-election monitoring activities, while NRI will assist CEP with its educational programs and conduct a public opinion survey. AIFLD will work with Haitian democratic labor unions to register and mobilize voters, and will form an observer team from the international labor movement. ADF will help the following Haitian civic groups to carry out civic education programs: the Institute of Haitian Research and Development; the Human Resources Development Center; Celebration 2004; and the Haitian Center for Human Rights. In addition, ADF will support a program of the Association of Haitian Journalists to train 174 journalists in the principles of professional journalism. Finally, funding will be provided to the Organization of American States to support its electoral monitoring and observer program, which may include as many as 400 participants.