27519: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Elections (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 7 (AP) -- Polling stations opened late -- or not at
all -- and scuffles broke out Tuesday as Haitians cast ballots in the first
presidential election since a bloody revolt two years ago pushed this
bloodied, impoverished nation toward total collapse.
   Although polls were scheduled to open at 6 a.m. EST, some did not open
until hours later. Because of the organizational problems, voting hours
originally set to end at 4 p.m. EST were extended by at least two hours,
Rosemond Pradel, the secretary-general of Haiti's nine-member Electoral
Council, told The Associated Press.
   He did not give a new closing time but said there were no plans to
extend voting hours into Wednesday.
   A shortage of workers, missing ballots and other problems delayed the
opening of some voting stations, including those used by people from Cite
Soleil, a volatile shantytown at the northern edge of the capital,
Port-au-Prince.
   Overall, however, voters formed orderly lines and patiently waited to
cast ballots.
   "There's some frustration and anger on the voting lines," said David
Wimhurst, spokesman for the United Nations, which has 9,000 troops and
police trying to maintain order in the troubled nation.
   "People have been waiting several hours now and in some cases they
haven't even got inside."
   More than 5,000 people waited to vote at a polling station near Cite
Soleil, which was deemed too dangerous to have voting booths of its own.
Some frustrated people chanted "We have the right to vote!" as election
workers assembled ballot boxes.
   The polling station eventually opened three hours behind schedule. By 11
a.m. local time, people were voting at another station near Cite Soleil but
the remaining two had not opened, Wimhurst said.
   Earlier, gunshots could be heard from within the slum, which is home to
some 200,000 people, but the source of the shooting could not be
determined.
   The election front-runner is former president Rene Preval, a 63-year-old
agronomist who led the country in 1996-2001. He was expected to win support
from many poor Haitians, including residents of Cite Soleil and backers of
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   The other top contenders among the 33 candidates are businessman Charles
Henri Baker, 50, whose family runs factories in the assembly-for-export
industry, and Leslie Manigat, 75, who was president for five months in 1988
until the army ousted him when he tried to shake up its high command.
   The field also includes a former rebel in the insurgency that forced
Aristide from office in February 2004 and a former army officer accused in
the death of a Haitian journalist.
   If no candidate wins a majority, the top two finishers would compete in
a March 19 runoff. Hundreds of candidates also are running for 129
parliamentary seats.
   U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the 9,300-member peacekeeping
force "will do all it can to support the Haitian authorities in ensuring
that the vote is held in freedom and safety."
   Wimhurst blamed Tuesday's problems on poor planning and a lack of
trained workers. The Haitian Electoral Council and the Organization of
American States were chiefly responsible for organizing the elections,
which had been postponed four times.
   "Some polling workers didn't show up for work, so we're going to grab
people from the crowd, give them some quick training and get them in
there," Wimhurst said.
   Preval voted at a school in his hometown of Marmelade, in the country's
rural north, to cheers from a crowd. In an interview with the AP, he said a
large turnout would "mean people are investing everything in this election"
and promised to make restoring security to the capital of Port-au-Prince a
priority if elected.
   "We are a poor country and we will not be able to do everything right
away," he said. "But we are determined to do our best and raise the
standard of living for the people of Haiti."
   The nation is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
   There were no reports of violence, but a 76-year-old man collapsed and
died while trying to vote at a school in the upscale Petionville area of
the capital.
   Stephane Lacroixe, a spokesman for Haiti's electoral council, apologized
for the delays and urged voters to be patient, saying authorities were "in
control of the situation."
   In many areas, voting went smoothly. Clutching newly minted voter ID
cards, about 1,000 people lined up before dawn at a polling station in the
Port-au-Prince area of Delmas, slowly filing in and leaving with a dark ink
stains on their thumbs -- proof that they voted.
   Outside a polling station in the downtown slum of Bel-Air, hundreds of
waiting voters snaked along rutted, trash-strewn streets.
   "Haitians are mobilized for change. That's why there's so many people in
the street this morning," said Jean Joseph, 44, as he went to cast his
ballot.
   U.N. special envoy Juan Gabriel Valdes said he was happy to see long
lines of voters during a tour of a polling station near St. Pierre church.
   "It's a victory for democracy, a victory for Haiti," Valdes said.
   Minutes later, impatient voters began shouting, pushing and shoving to
keep their position in line. Several fainted and were carried out.
   Authorities urged Haitians to vote in large numbers under the protection
of the U.N. peacekeepers, calling Tuesday's election a key step to
reversing Haiti's cycle of despair.
   "Haiti's future depends on this vote," said Jacques Bernard, director
general of the electoral council. "Good elections are the only solution to
saving our nation."
   Helicopters, truck and even mules ferried election supplies into remote
corners of the nation, which has never seen democracy fully take root.
   Haiti has long suffered from oppression and instability. The country was
ruled for nearly 30 years by dictators Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his
son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who fled to France in 1986 amid
allegations of human rights violations, mass killings and stealing millions
from the national treasury.
   Efforts to restore democracy have faltered. Soldiers aborted Haiti's
first attempt at free elections in a 1987 bloodbath.
   Aristide, then a priest who preached rebellion to slum-dwelling
Haitians, won elections in 1990 but served only seven months before the
military overthrew him. Aristide was re-elected in 2000.
   ------
   Associated Press reporters Stevenson Jacobs in Port-au-Prince and Joseph
B. Frazier in Gonaives contributed to this report.