Haiti Senate Candidate Campaigns by Phone for Dec. 13 Vote as Gangs Choke Access
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 3
Haiti Senate Candidate Campaigns by Phone for Dec. 13 Vote as Gangs Choke Access
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 3
Summary
Antoine Rodon Bien-Aimé is campaigning for Haiti’s Senate by speakerphone and video calls because kidnappings and killings have made in-person events too dangerous.
Dec. 13 elections would be Haiti’s first in a decade, but the candidate said he cannot safely enter multiple neighborhoods around Port-au-Prince and fears being kidnapped if he leaves home.
Major highways under armed-group control threaten the mechanics of the vote as well, complicating movement of candidates and ballots and risking entire communities being cut off.
Critics say the government, under U.S. pressure, is pushing ahead too quickly with elections that many displaced Haitians may be unable to participate in.