26603: Wharram (news) Haiti tentatively sets date for national elections (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>

	Posted on Wed, Nov. 16, 2005


Haiti tentatively sets date for national elections

BY JOE MOZINGO
Knight Ridder Newspapers

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Under withering U.S. and French pressure to put a
new government in office by Feb. 7, Haitian officials have tentatively
agreed to postpone presidential and legislative elections until two days
after Christmas, foreign advisers said.

Prime Minister Gerard Latortue was expected to announce the decision
Thursday, although there was still some debate about the date, given that
many Haitians will be visiting families far from their designated polling
places at the time.

If the decision stands, it could significantly diminish voter turnout and
threaten the legitimacy of the new government to replace President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a violent revolt last year.

Yet preparations for the elections have been so beset by controversy and
mismanagement that Dec. 27 is virtually the only date by which the balloting
can be held and still have time for a run-off on Jan. 31, if no candidates
win more than 50 percent of the vote.

The runoff date would allow only a few days to resolve the virtually
inevitable disputes over the results and still inaugurate the new president
on Feb. 7 as required by Haiti's constitution. With 35 presidential
candidates, the margins between each are likely to be close, and observers
expect at least some candidates to cry foul.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told the interim government
that it's critical to put a democratically elected government in the
National Palace by the deadline in order to assure its political legitimacy.
France is also pushing to meet the Feb. 7 deadline, its officials have said.

U.N electoral advisers say it's still possible, albeit barely, to hold an
election little more than five weeks from now. But some Haitians insist that
is unrealistic.

"I don't think it's possible," said Patrick Fequiere, a member of the
Provisional Electoral Council. "We still need to hire 40,000 poll workers.
That's a lot to do - and train them too!"

Some observers question why Haitian officials and U.N. electoral advisers,
who spent months registering 3.4 million voters, would hold the first round
during the holidays, when many people leave the capital.

"The 27th is a weird, weird day," said Robert Fatton Jr., a Haiti expert and
political science professor at the University of Virginia. "I don't see why
they don't wait until the end of January when they are ready."

Fatton said he doesn't understand "the obsession" with having a new
government by Feb. 7, when it is clear that Latortue is planning to
relinquish his power when elections are complete. He said it's far more
important to have an election that is seen as legitimate.

The elections were originally set for Oct. 9 and then were postponed to Nov.
20, although officials floated other dates as well.

The ballots only went to the printer on Monday after a fight over whether
Dumarsais Simeus - a Haitian-American who runs a $100 million food empire
based in Texas - could run for president.

Simeus is a naturalized American citizen, but Article 13 of the Haitian
constitution says citizenship is lost by naturalization in another country.

The electoral council denied his candidacy in September. He appealed to the
Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled that the council did not have enough
evidence to reject him. But on Saturday, the council released its final list
of 35 presidential candidates - and Simeus was not on it.

In a news release Simeus called the move "another shameful attempt by this
same small clique of power-hungry anti-democracy forces to mastermind the
outcome of Haiti's presidential election."

Simeus and his attorneys insist that his U.S. passport should not negate his
Haitian citizenship. He plans to petition Rice and other foreign leaders to
pressure Latortue to allow him to run. He also said that he might go to a
judge to force the council to abide by the Supreme Court's ruling.

If he succeeds, it would likely further stall the process.

While the bureaucrats scramble to prepare, the candidates are campaigning in
earnest. No comprehensive political polls have been made public, so it is
difficult to know if there is a clear frontrunner.

But many observers say former President Rene Preval, a leftist and Aristide
ally, seems to be the candidate to beat.

"Preval is the front-runner, no doubt," said Felix Ulloa, resident director
of the U.S.-funded National Democratic Institute of International Affairs,
which helps parties organize in Haiti. "Even the right-wing say they're OK
with him."

Oddly, Preval is running as an independent, not on the ticket of Aristide's
Lavalas Family party, which supported his winning presidential bid in 1996.
"He wants to break with Aristide," Ulloa said

Aristide has not endorsed a candidate or the elections as a whole. But
residents from the slum of Cite Soleil - a stronghold of his supporters and
a place that has been militantly opposed to the election until recently -
marched in support of Preval earlier this month, according to news reports.

The official Lavalas candidate, Marc Bazin, is also considered a heavyweight
contender. Bazin lost to Aristide in the 1990 presidential election and
later worked as a minister in his administration. He has vowed to free all
political prisoners, which Lavalas party leaders have been demanding for
months.

The sideshow over Simeus' citizenship has given him much free publicity in
Haiti and there's anecdotal evidence that he might be have support in poor
neighborhoods, where some residents have told the Miami Herald that they
want a "rich" president because he will be less susceptible to Haiti's
notorious corruption and cronyism.



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