#4182: Haitians Vote in Grand'-Anse (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Sunday June 11 9:15 PM ET  Haitians Vote in Grand'-Anse
 By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer 

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haitians voted Sunday in local and
legislative elections in the southern Grand'-Anse District, where voting
was postponed on May 21 because of technical problems and political
 disputes. There was no violence during the vote, election office
 president Benoit Guerrier said, despite long lines caused when some
stations opened late. Results were expected later this week, with a
run-off round scheduled for June 25. Voter turnout appeared to be good,
an indication that residents were ignoring opposition parties who had
called for a boycott. Those parties have complained that the May
 21 vote was tainted to favor the Lavalas Family Party of
 former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Despite the protests, 
opposition candidates' names remained on the ballots and their         
representatives helped monitor voting at polls.Some said they were
ignoring the boycott. About 210,000 of the district's 345,000 adults
were registered to vote. Two upper-house and 11 lower-house seats were
up for election. Eighteen mayoral commissions and hundreds of urban and
rural councils were also on the ballot. Aristide's party swept the
election in Haiti's other eight districts during the May 21 vote, and it
was expected to do well in Grand'-Anse as well. On Thursday night,
unidentified arsonists set fire to election offices in two coastal
towns, Mirogoane and Petit Trou de Nippes, but the fires did not prevent
voting there.