#3828: CANA on the Elections in Haiti (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

The Caribbean News Agency (CANA) is the premier
provider of news and information from the English
Caribbean

Haitian election turnout praised despite flaws

Port-au-Prince, CANA - International observers yesterday
praised Haiti's elections as largely peaceful, though the
aftermath of Sunday's polling was marred by fights among
partisan supporters and allegations that gunmen had stolen
ballot boxes.

 "We can say that this is perhaps the first time that so
many people have gone to the polls to vote in legislative
and local elections," Provisional Electoral Council
President Leon Manus said, estimating that 60 per cent
of Haiti's 4 million registered voters participated.

With the results not expected for another week, the
courtyard at one regional counting centre in Port-au-Prince
was littered with ballots yesterday and workers dozed on
haphazard stacks of ballot boxes -- some still sealed,
others ripped and spilling their contents.