26248: Miller: (news)Haitian election officials bar prisoner from running in presidential race (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Rob Miller <painewebberm@yahoo.com>

Haitian election officials bar prisoner from running
in presidential race
BY ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ Leaders of ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party were barred
Tuesday from registering a jailed Roman Catholic
priest as their presidential candidate.
Provisional Election Council official Jaccillon
Barthelemy said the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste had to
register his candidacy in person.

Louis Gerard Gilles, a former senator with Aristide's
Lavalas Family party, said he showed the council a
letter from the jailed priest authorizing party
members to register his candidacy. He said the party
would challenge the election's council decision in
court.

``The council has no authority to prevent a candidate
from registering,'' Gilles said. ``Nothing in the
constitution requires he should be present in
person.''

Election Council president Max Mathurin said last week
that Haiti's electoral law required candidates to
register in person.

Jean-Juste was arrested in July on suspicion of
involvement in the kidnapping and slaying of prominent
Haitian journalist Jacques Roche. Jean-Juste, who was
in Miami when Roche was killed, has denied
involvement. He has not been charged.

Lavalas leaders have called Jean-Juste's detention an
attempt by the interim government to keep the party
from participating in the elections, which will be the
first since the February 2004 uprising that helped
topple Aristide.

Although Lavalas has been split over whether to
boycott the vote, the prospect of Jean-Juste's
candidacy has raised enthusiasm among Aristide
militants for participating in the elections.

The party's participation is considered key because it
still has widespread support, especially in the vast
slums of Port-au-Prince.

Hundreds of Aristide sympathizers in two slums tried
to march to the electoral council headquarters to
support Jean-Juste's candidacy, but were barred by UN
peacekeepers and Haitian police.

Haitian police passed a decree last week banning
street protests until Sept. 16, citing security
reasons. Lavalas leaders lashed out at UN peacekeepers
for helping enforce the decree, calling it an attempt
to prevent loyalists from showing support for the
jailed priest.

A brief gun battle broke out between peacekeepers and
pro-Aristide gang members in the slum of Bel Air.
Peacekeepers arrested several suspected gang members,
but there were no reports of injuries.

In the slum of Cite Soleil, about 300 marchers turned
back when they saw a UN armoured vehicle at the
entrance. Peacekeepers briefly came under gunfire, but
nobody was reported hurt.

``The UN has now showed they have taken sides against
Lavalas joining the elections,'' said Jean Joseph
Joel, a Cite Soleil Lavalas coordinator.

Charles Henri Baker, a prominent businessman who
supported the 2004 revolt, also registered his
candidacy for president. Several others, including
former rebel leader Guy Philippe, have announced their
intentions to run for president, but it was unclear if
they had registered. The deadline for registering is
Thursday.