Even though it’s clear that people aren’t really excited about the idea of elections this year, political organizations, on the other hand, are getting active, and future presidential candidates are trying to position themselves behind the scenes.
Even though it’s clear that the public isn’t quite excited about the idea of elections this year, political organizations are getting organized, and future presidential candidates are trying to position themselves behind the scenes. Le Nouvelliste has learned that 17 political groups are registered with the CEP, bringing together 227 political parties out of the 316 that are approved.
“This Friday is the last day to register political party groups. We’ve recorded 17 registered groups bringing together 227 political parties,” an election advisor told the newspaper, pointing out that the second phase involves the registration of political party coalitions.For now, Le Nouvelliste is holding back from naming potential presidential candidates that political actors have shared with the newspaper. We’ll find out soon enough since candidate registration for the upcoming elections starts on August 20 and ends on October 2, according to the election calendar. But in the meantime, “almost all political parties are organizing into multiple groups to participate in the elections, except for certain parties like Fanmi Lavalas and OPL, EDE, among others,” a political actor deeply involved in the negotiations told the newspaper.Former deputy Ketel Jean-Philippe, coordinator of the OPL, confirmed to Le Nouvelliste that the party he leads is not part of any alliance or coalition of political parties. “The OPL will go to the elections alone. We will form alliances with social organizations, unions, and regional organizations, but we are not joining any political platform,” he told the newspaper.
Joël Vorbe, one of the leaders of Fanmi Lavalas, also confirmed to the newspaper that the political organization is not part of any coalition. “The party’s charter does not allow us to take part in a platform or coalition of parties, but it does not prevent us from talking with parties. We are in talks with different political actors, and we believe that solving the crisis requires elections…” he detailed.
In a statement released on Friday, the political party EDE announced that it is not part of any political group. It plans to go solo in the upcoming elections.
A single political party, if it were to send candidates to the elections—one for the presidency, 50 for the legislature, ten for the Senate, and 30 for local council—would spend about one million US dollars on registration fees, according to a political actor who joined forces with several other parties.
According to Article 156 of the electoral decree, any candidate for an elective office pays non-refundable registration fees to the DGI via a cashier’s check made out to the Public Treasury/Elections.The registration fees for the different elective positions are thus set by Article 157 of the electoral decree: “1. for the presidential candidate: two million (2,000,000.00) gourdes; 2. for the Senate candidate: eight hundred thousand (800,000.00) gourdes; 3. for the Deputy candidate: three hundred thousand (300,000.00) gourdes; 4. for the municipal council candidate list: one hundred thousand (100,000.00) gourdes; 5. for the CASEC candidate list: twenty-five thousand (25,000.00) gourdes; 6. for the ASEC candidate list: twenty-five thousand (25,000.00) gourdes.
“The electoral decree offers incentives to political parties that want to join forces.
Article 136 of the document states that “any grouping of political parties that is formed and approved benefits from a reduction in registration fees for all its candidates according to the following criteria: 1. a grouping made up of at least 50 approved political parties gets a 100% reduction in registration fees; 2. a grouping made up of 30 to 49 approved political parties gets a 75% reduction in registration fees; 3. a grouping made up of 20 to 29 approved political parties gets a 50% reduction in registration fees; 4. a grouping made up of 10 to 19 approved political parties gets a 5% reduction in registration fees.”Then, according to Article 137, “any coalition of political parties that is formed and approved benefits from a reduction in registration fees for all its candidates according to the following criteria: 1. a coalition made up of at least 5 approved political party groups benefits from a 100% reduction in registration fees; 2. a coalition made up of 3 to 4 approved political party groups benefits from a 75% reduction in registration fees; 3. a coalition made up of 2 approved political party groups benefits from a 50% reduction in registration fees.”
The other legal requirement that encourages political parties to come together is found in Article 130 of the electoral decree. Most of the 316 political parties approved by the CEP are unknown to the general public. Each of them will find it difficult to individually gather the 30,000 members required to file the candidacy of their contenders for elective positions as mandated by the article 130.
