3 Ontarians share their experience of electoral processes in their home country


In 1995, Kettly Excellent, who has lived in Toronto for 14 years, was running for the post of mayor of Delmas, a commune located in the department of the West and in the borough of Port-au-Prince, in Haiti. Ms. Excellent was facing the outgoing mayor at the time. A choice she deserved, she says.

My then political party chose me because of the work I had done for the departure of dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, and then for my fight for democracy in Haiti. she says.

Jean-Claude Duvalier was President of the Republic of Haiti from 1971 to 1986.

Kitty Excellent thinks she had a compelling speech too. It was the speech I had that made people move. “Oh my God, a young girl talking like that” so it gets people moving, they wanted to touch me, get involved, see me arrive and see what I was going to giveshe recalls.

The black and white photo of Kettly Excellent, next to it we can read in particular: Mrs. Kettly candidate for mayor.

Excerpt from one of the posters used by Kettly Excellent during its election campaign in 1995.

Photo: Provided by Kettly Excellent.

The day of the vote is one of the moments that marked her experience as a candidate for mayor of Delmas.

The day of the vote was an unforgettable day. Going to vote for other people is one thing, but voting for yourself is another thing.she says.

It was good and I cried. Oh, my God, I really want to succeed, to have this mandate so that I can change the way things are done in the commune. »

A quote from Kettly Excellent, former candidate for mayor of the municipality of Delmas in Haiti

Ms. Excellent, however, was not elected. Unfortunately, I came in second place. I greeted the loss with tears in my eyes because people really voted for me. It was really sad.

She regrets that the process in Haiti lacks transparency and admires the elections in Canada for this same transparency.

When you go to elections in a country [Haïti] with the people who are in power, then they are the ones in charge. They are the ones who decide how many positions they will give to other political parties, which is not the case in Canadashe says.

There is a democracy here in Canada

The transparency and credibility of elections in Canada have always marked Kettly Excellent. We can say that there is a democracy here in Canada and we cannot steal the elections. The people vote and then the government decides not to give you power, it gives it to its candidate. It can’t be done here in Canada she says.

The Torontonian Hubert Shimba Osonga Mbenga, also shares this opinion. Canada is a developed country, a country with a long electoral history and populations with a certain political awareness.he argues.

Hubert Shimba smiles at the camera.

Hubert Shimba was a candidate in the territorial constituency of Kole in the province of Sankuru in the DRC.

Photo: Supplied by Hubert Shimba

Unsuccessful candidate in 2018 for the provincial deputy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mr. Shimba thinks that in Canada the candidates for the elections have fewer challenges to overcome than in the DRC.

To make its program understood and accepted by the population is one of the major challenges that he himself has faced, he explains.

I particularly presented myself with a speech that people did not understand and the result was completely catastrophic because it is not what people expected of me. »

A quote from Hubert Shimba Osonga Mbenga, former candidate for provincial deputy in the DRC

He says he understood later that the speech alone could not convince his voters.

I discovered that people weren’t willing to listen to me until I gave them money. It was a waste of time, I admit having failed. It was very difficult, a total failurehe says.

Hubert Shimba specifies that money was not the only factor that played for the victory or the failure of one or the other. However, he thinks that there are several people who could have been declared elected, but who were not.

Canceled election

Abbasli Ehrun in a room holds the camera next to another person.

Abbasli Ehrun in 2020 during his father Rauf Arifoghlu’s election campaign in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Photo: Provided by Abbasli Ehrun

Abbasli Ehrun, a fourth-year film production student at York University, was one of the key campaigners for his father, Rauf Arifoghlu, in Azerbaijan’s 2020 snap legislative election.

I was responsible for creating social media content and recording videos for my dad. We visited around 31,000 voter homes which was a great experiencehe says.

More than two years after the elections, no MP is sitting in the Azerbaijani parliament on behalf of the electoral district for which his father was a candidate following alleged fraud, he said.

My father was elected, but unfortunately he could not obtain the mandate. The election was canceled in our electoral district. Until today, there are no deputies from this region in parliament. »

A quote from Abbasli Ehrun, former member of an election campaign team for an office of deputy in Azerbaijan

The elections had also been canceled in three other constituencies due to fraud.

Mr. Ehrun doubts that the mandates of deputies can be annulled in Canada without new elections being organised.

Abbasli Ehrun says he is interested in Canadian and Azerbaijani politics. He plans to make a documentary film on the electoral processes in the two countries.



Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca

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