News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMinewar-on-terrorhaiti2006-elections — Viewing Item


Election officials tampering with haitian vote

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-13T185923Z_01_N13263370_RTRUKOC_0_UK-HAITI-ELECTION.xml&archived=False

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-13T185923Z_01_N13263370_RTRUKOC_0_UK-HAITI-ELECTION.xml&archived=False

Preval supporters protest Haitian vote results
Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:59 PM GMT

By Joseph Guyler Delva and Jim Loney

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Angry supporters of ex-President Rene Preval paralysed the Haitian capital with burning tires and roadblocks on Monday as Preval fell further below the 50 percent needed to win the presidency and allegations of election manipulations mounted.

Radio reports said a young man was killed and several people were wounded in gunfire at a demonstration in Tabarre, north of the capital, where protesters were confronted by members of the 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti.

On a street in the capital, a U.N. armoured personnel carrier ploughed through a barricade of rocks and debris as protesters hurled curses.

The peaceful atmosphere following last Tuesday's vote began to unravel amid charges that election officials were tampering with results to prevent a first-round victory by Preval, a one-time ally of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a bloody revolt two years ago.

Like Aristide, Preval is viewed as a champion of the Caribbean country's poor masses, most of whom live on $1 (57 pence) a day, but he is distrusted by the small and wealthy elite.

"We are going to put one million people in the streets in the coming hours," said John Joel Joseph, a community leader in the Port-au-Prince slums. "The people won't take this," he added, referring to the latest vote count.

Traffic ground to a halt, schools shut down and the United Nations told its employees to stay home as demonstrators piled wrecked cars and tree branches in the streets of Port-au-Prince after the latest results. With 90 percent of the vote counted, the Provisional Electoral Council reported Preval had 48.7 percent.

At midday, thousands of protesters, dancing and chanting "Preval is President!" smashed through the gates of the Montana Hotel and swarmed through the complex where election officials have been briefing journalists on the disputed vote count.

When initial results were announced several days ago, Preval held 61 percent of the vote, comfortably over the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff on March 19.

Another ex-president, Leslie Manigat, had 11.84 percent percent and the main candidate for the business elite, industrialist Charles Baker, was at 7.9 percent.

"WILL OF THE PEOPLE"

Protesters poured out of the slums and marched near the National Palace, the upscale Petionville suburb and the vote tabulation centre near the airport, beating drums and chanting support for Preval. They demanded the unassuming, 63-year-old agronomist be declared the winner without delay.

Smoke from burning tires rose near the seaport, the airport and a half dozen other locations around the sprawling city. The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders cancelled a convoy to its clinic in the Cite Soleil slum.

"Nobody can block Preval. The will of the people is the will of God," said Marjorie St.-Fleur. "The people will prevail."

Hundreds of heavily armed riot police formed a protective cordon outside the headquarters of the Provisional Electoral Council. Along the street in front, people wearing yellow Preval T-shirts chanted and carried branches with three leaves, the symbol of Preval's political coalition Lespwa, "The Hope."

"You have seen nothing yet," said a man who identified himself as Maurice. "We are going to show what the people are capable of."

Preval himself complained on Sunday that a computer-generated graphic on the electoral council's Web site had him at 52 percent of the vote at the time the director-general of the council was telling the media that Preval only had 49 percent.

Two of the nine electoral council members, Pierre Richard Duchemin and Patrick Fequiere, also remarked on the discrepancy and said the vote tabulation was being manipulated.

Haiti's short history of democracy since it flung off the dictatorship of the Duvalier family has been turbulent. Aristide was ousted by an armed revolt in February 2004 and Washington has urged Preval, if elected, not to allow the former Roman Catholic priest to return from exile.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Ellrodt in Marmelade)



Death of UN leader in haiti amid instability
Election official flees haiti after election { February 21 2006 }
Election officials tampering with haitian vote
Haiti electiion ballots discovered in dump { February 16 2006 }
Leading haitain candidate results slipping during count
New UN military chief in haiti vows stabilization
No voting stationsfor haitis largest slum
Polling stations stayed closed in haiti { February 8 2006 }
Preval wins election after blank ballots discovered { February 17 2006 }

Files Listed: 9



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple