"Haitians shun senate elections"

[apathy maybe]

Haiti's long-delayed senate elections have been marred[sic] by extremely poor voter turnout.

Official results are still days away but Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from the capital, Port-au-Prince, said only eight per cent of registered voters cast ballots on Sunday.
My emphasis.

But there was also violence, with protesters raiding polling stations and destroying ballots in Mirebalais, causing voting to be halted in the central plateau city, Radio Metropole said.

"The people stole the ballots, they destroyed the ballots. People were with guns," Charles Messier, a United Nations spokesman, said.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/americas/2009/04/2009419224231220542.html

(Other information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Haiti and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Senate_election,_2008 and http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/04/20/low-turnout-projected-for-haiti-senate-election/ )

What do people think about this? Are they ripe for revolution? Rejecting electoral politics is one step.

[mykittyhasaboner]

What do people think about this? Are they ripe for revolution? Rejecting electoral politics is one step.Perhaps, but rejecting the parliamentary votes may not necessarily mean they are ready to revolt. I think the rejection of the vote may have just been because of how utterly pointless they are, but if there are actual organizations comprised of militant workers that are against the voting then I would say there is a class-conscious effort to overthrow capitalism. Something which Haiti desperately needs.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

I think this might show Haiti is ready for more civil unrest, and the only accomplishment will be more people die and aid organizations leave because they fear getting shot.

Bu hopefully not.

[ComradeR]

Remember Haiti suffered a US sponsored coup in 04 and a corrupt puppet government was installed that has allowed the people to starve. This is all painfully clear to the Haitians who simply don't see any point in participating in this farce.