26828: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti says U.S. millionaire can seek presidency (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Haiti's Supreme court ruled on
Thursday that a Haitian-born U.S millionaire can run for president,
confirming a previous order ignored by Haitian interim authorities, lawyers
said.
     Guerdy Lissade, a lawyer for candidate Dumarsais Simeus, said the
court issued a unanimous decision allowing his client to run for the
presidency.
     "For the second time, the Supreme Court ordered election authorities
to add Simeus' name on the final list of approved candidates," Lissade
said. "Now, there is nothing left to do. The electoral council can only
comply with the order."
     The court reiterated that its decision allowing Simeus to run was
irrevocable. If the ruling is executed, elections would be unlikely to take
place as scheduled on Jan. 8 because presidential ballots have already been
printed.
     Simeus issued a statement calling the court's decision "a victory for
the Haitian people, who have suffered for too long under the oppression of
the same little group of politicians who perpetuate a failed political
system, broken economy and violence in our streets."
     The presidential and legislative elections would be the first since
former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was driven into exile in February
2004 during an armed revolt. Some three dozen candidates are running for
president and a runoff is scheduled for Feb. 15.
     Election officials appointed by the interim government refused last
month to put Simeus on the ballot because he had obtained U.S. citizenship
and Haitian law bars foreign nationals from running. Simeus said he had
never renounced his Haitian citizenship and the Supreme Court ruled him
eligible for the ballot.
     The elections had already been delayed from November and U.N.
peacekeepers are struggling to establish order in the deeply impoverished
nation of 8 million, where gang violence and kidnappings for ransom have
been on the rise.