#4829: Re: Antoine comments on elections : Carey responds

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Henry F. Chip Carey <polhfc@langate.gsu.edu>

Guy Antoine's comments on the elections are very welcome.  My answer to his $64,000 question is for Haiti to replay the second round elections.  If Slobodan Milosevic can be persuaded to reverse electoral fraud, as he did in 1997, then the much more enlightened leaders of Haiti should do the same.  Appearances are important in politics (more important than facts).  So, it is important for Lavalas to show that it would win most of the nineteen Senate seats fairly, instead of taking them all.

Incidentally, in the election in my county yesterday, the following result occurred, as reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution today:

DeKalb police Capt. Derwin Brown beat (incumbent Sidney) Dorsey by more than 2 to 1, even though the sheriff had come
within 1,000 votes of re-election in the (first-round) July 18 primary. 

While I do not expect such second-round upsets to occur in Haiti, the perception that this is possible means that a fair, second-round election must be held.  Haiti has the funds to hold this election, which would be much more simple than the many races of May 21.

******************
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30303
tel: 404-651-4845
fax: 404-651-1434
POLHFC@langate.gsu.edu