27514: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti election off to stumbling start (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Kieran Murray

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Haiti's presidential election
got off to a rocky start on Tuesday after repeated delays as thousands of
people trekked to polling stations in the capital only to find them still
closed.
     At a large voting center outside the sprawling Cite Soleil slum, at
least 5,000 people milled about but there were no ballots or other voting
materials to be seen an hour after the polls were scheduled to open at 6
a.m. (1100 GMT).
     At least seven other polling centers across the capital were closed,
but a U.N. official said some had opened.
     Cite Soleil residents walked by the thousands to voting centers
outside the teeming seaside shantytown, many determined to return
ex-President Rene Preval, a protege of the exiled Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
to the National Palace.
     The election is Haiti's first since Aristide was deposed two years ago
and could prove troublesome for U.S. policy in the impoverished nation.
     Washington pushed Aristide, a former priest who gained power as a
champion of the poor but was accused of despotism and corruption, to leave
in 2004 and may now have to deal with a projected winner that some regard
as an Aristide crony.
     "They don't want us to vote. They don't want Preval to win. But we are
here and we will vote," said Marie Saint Louis, who waited with thousands
of others to get into the voting center near Cite Soleil.
     Exactly 20 years after the dictatorial rule of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc"
Duvalier crumbled, Tuesday's vote offered some hope for an end to the coups
and instability that have crippled Haiti since then.
     A new round of fighting, however, could plunge the poorest country in
the Americas into even deeper chaos.
     Preval draws support from the miserable urban slums and rural areas
where Aristide was strongest. He was president from 1996 to 2001, an era of
relative calm between Aristide's two terms, and he is Haiti's only elected
leader to complete his term and hand over power peacefully.
     He is opposed by the same wealthy elite that helped drive Aristide
from power.
     Preval held a comfortable lead in opinion polls but needs to win more
than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a run-off next month. Polls close at
4 p.m. (2100 GMT) and officials say it could take three days to count the
ballots.
     Preval's main rivals are Charles Baker, a successful industrialist,
and Leslie Manigat, who was president for four months in 1988 before being
overthrown in a military coup. There are 33 presidential candidates, but
most stand no chance.
     The voting was to take place under the watchful eyes of a 9,000-strong
U.N. peacekeeping force sent to Haiti after Aristide left.
     Many Haitians suspect the unelected interim government has tried to
make voting as difficult as possible in poor areas to hurt Preval. Some say
they were not told where to cast their ballots and others will have to walk
several miles.
     "We need tables, we need chairs, we need lights and someone needs to
clean the floor, it's dirty," said a poll supervisor at a trash-strewn
warehouse that was serving as a polling center but failed to open on time.
     Security fears forced authorities to postpone the election several
times but pro-Aristide gang leaders recently changed tack by backing the
poll and telling people to get out and vote. With that, the level of
violence and crime has dropped dramatically in recent days.
     Still, experts say Haiti is awash with weapons and Preval's supporters
could turn violent if he loses or they suspect fraud. On the other side,
anti-Aristide armed groups could try to disrupt the election to keep Preval
out of power.