A new report by Brazil’s Igarapé Institute, to be released on Feb. 3, reveals that less than 20% of Haiti’s electorate, a new record low, participated in the Oct. 25, 2015 parliamentary and presidential election, not 26% as claimed by Haiti’s discredited and now collapsing Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

Furthermore, less than 3% of potential voters had planned to take part in the now indefinitely postponed Jan. 24 elections’ third round, mostly due to dismay with election fraud and corruption, the report says.

Nonetheless, about 75% of respondents said they “would vote if they were confident the elections were free and fair,” the report found.

Entitled “Assessing Haiti’s Electoral Legitimacy Crisis – Results of a 2016 Survey,” the report is based on a national survey of 1,766 Haitian adults conducted between Jan. 17-22, 2016. The report was written by Athena R. Kolbe and Robert Muggah, who co-authored an important 2006 Lancet study on human rights abuses during the de facto government of Prime Minister Gérard Latortue after Haiti’s 2004 coup d’état.

In November, the Igarapé Institute published the results of an exit poll during the Oct. 25 election which showed Jovenel Moïse coming in fourth with just 6% of the vote, not 33% as published by the CEP. The Igarapé Institute calls itself “an independent think and do tank devoted to evidence-based policy and action on complex social challenges.”

“ The country is sliding into a political crisis without precedent,” the authors note in the report’s introduction. “Haiti’s current crisis is not just about the elections, but the constitution itself. There is no provision in the Haitian constitution for a transition of power after a president’s term expires in the event that elections have not been held.”

Among other report findings:

● Some 83% of those surveyed believe that Haiti is headed in the wrong direction, particularly young people, agricultural laborers, factory workers, and the poorest quarter of the population. “When asked if President Martelly should step down on or before Feb. 7, 2016, more than three quarters of respondents said that he should resign as president, even if a new president has not yet been elected.”

● Almost 83% of those surveyed were or had been registered to vote, indicating no generalized voter apathy.

● About 68% of respondents said they wouldn’t vote in the Jan. 24 election due to voter fraud, suggesting that the majority of Haiti’s population agree with Haiti’s opposition.

“Given the history of repeated coup d’états in Haiti, it is absolutely crucial that President Martelly step down on Feb. 7, as planned,” the authors conclude in their 24-page report. “This would help renew trust in the democratic process and demonstrate a commitment to the peaceful transition of power despite the lack of constitutional guidance for this specific situation.”