27518: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti election gets off to stumbling start (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     (Recasts, adds quotes, details)

     By Kieran Murray and Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Haiti's first election since
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed in a bloody revolt two years ago got off
to a rocky start on Tuesday as thousands trekked to the polls to find some
of them closed.
     "It's time, it's time, it's time," people chanted at a closed voting
center in the capital two hours after the scheduled 6 a.m. (1100 GMT)
opening.
     Some voting places did open on time. A 76-year-old man died in a crush
of voters at one center, radio reported. About 20 people suffered minor
injuries when voters charged through the gates of another in downtown
Port-au-Prince.
     But there was disappointment and anger for thousands who rose before
dawn and marched to a ballot station near the teeming Cite Soleil
shantytown, determined to elect ex-President Rene Preval, a protege of the
exiled Aristide.
     Official results may not be known for three days and the chaotic start
marred an election that could prove troublesome for U.S. policy in the
impoverished Caribbean nation of 8.5 million people. Critics accused
Aristide of despotism and Washington pressed him to leave in 2004 only to
find his one-time ally now favored to retake the presidency.
     The crowds that marched together from the slums,      walking past
smoking piles of garbage, rooting pigs and U.N. armored personnel carriers,
waved tree branches and chanted Preval slogans.
     Some cried fraud, charging that voters in the upscale neighborhood of
Petionville were already casting ballots for Preval's top rival,
businessman Charles Baker, while slum dwellers waited in vain.
     "In Petionville, the bourgeoise is voting but we are not allowed. We
know their fraud. They are trying to give us Baker," said Lucas Charles.
"If they give us Baker, we will spend the next five years firing weapons."
     Exactly 20 years after the dictatorial rule of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc"
Duvalier crumbled, Tuesday's vote offered what the United Nations views as
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.
     "They told us to wake up early to go to vote. Many of us didn't sleep
at all. Why can't they give us our chance?" said Jean Nazaire outside a
closed polling station in the capital's Delmas area.
     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).
     Preval's main rivals are Baker, an industrialist, and Leslie Manigat,
who was president for four months in 1988 before being deposed in a
military coup. There are 33 presidential candidates, but most stand no
chance.
     The voting was taking place under the watchful eyes of a 9,000-strong
U.N. peacekeeping force sent to Haiti after Aristide left. There were no
early reports of violence.
     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.
     Violence that has killed hundreds since Aristide was deposed and a
wave of kidnappings in the capital forced authorities to postpone the
election several times.
     But pro-Aristide gang leaders blamed for much of the insecurity
recently changed tack by backing the poll. With that, the level of violence
and crime dropped dramatically.
     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.