25805: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Elections (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 23 (AP) -- The deadline for voter registration will
likely have to be postponed to allow more people to register for Haiti's
first elections since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the
interim prime minister said Saturday.
   The Aug. 9 deadline may be extended to September, said interim Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue, but he insisted October and November elections
could still be held on time.
   "I am psychologically ready, and so is the president, to postpone voter
registration," Latortue said in an interview with The Associated Press.
   Just 600,000 -- or 13 percent -- of Haiti's 4.5 million eligible voters
have registered. Critics say Haitians may be too scared to vote because of
the political violence that has killed hundreds since Aristide was toppled
in February 2004.
   Latortue said his goal was to see at least 2.5 million people
registered.
   "I know that the only topic on which this government will be judged is
its capacity to organize fair and representative elections," he said.
   Aristide was ousted in a bloody, three-week rebellion in February 2004.
Supporters from Aristide's Lavalas party have said they will boycott the
elections unless the former leader returns from exile in South Africa.