#4817: Results of partial elections confirm Aristide party sweep in Haiti (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Results of partial elections confirm Aristide  party sweep in Haiti
 August 9, 2000  Web posted at: 12:07 AM EDT (0407 GMT)

  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- The electoral council announced the
results Tuesday from the final run-offs in Haiti's drawn-out elections,
confirming that the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide won
dominant control of the  legislature. The results came from run-off
elections held July 30 for 10 lower-house seats in  districts where
balloting had been delayed.  Aristide's Lavalas Family party won five of
the seats, according to the election  council. Opposition candidates
took four while the determination of the final seat  was postponed
because of irregularities. The latest results mean the Lavalas party now
holds 75 of the 83 seats of the  lower Chamber of Deputies. The party
won 18 of the 19 seats that were up for  grabs in the 27-member Senate,
the upper house.  The first round of voting was held May 21 and June 11,
followed by run-offs on July 9 and July 30.  Parliament has not been in
session since January 1999, when Aristide's handpicked successor
President Rene Preval shut it down to terminate a prolonged power
struggle with the majority party.  Aristide, constitutionally barred
from consecutive terms in office, stepped down in 1996 and is a favorite
to win a re-election bid in November. Aristide's party also has won 80
percent of city halls and a majority of urban and rural assemblies.  The
Organization of American States observer team has questioned the
formula  used to determine winners of the parliamentary elections, and
the United States, Canada and European Union have threatened to withhold
aid if the results are not revised.