#3539: Haiti expels Canadian election observer (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Monday, 8 May, 2000, 23:10 GMT 00:10 UK 
 Haiti expels Canadian election observer
 From the newsroom of the BBC World Service 

Haiti has expelled a Canadian election observer, accusing her of
insulting and intolerable remarks over the government's handling of
parliamentary elections later this month. The Haitian prime minister,
Jacques Edouard Alexis, said the advisor, Micheline Begin, had      
lost credibility after apparently criticising the government in a report
to colleagues at the  Washington-based International Foundation for  
Election Systems.  He said she had already left the country. In advance
of the voting, Haiti has been  plagued by a number of political killings
and violent protests -- directed mainly against the opposition.
Correspondents say the elections  are being viewed as a crucial test for
Haiti's fragile democracy after decades of dictatorship.