27537: (news) Chamberlain: Chaos, fraud claims mar Haiti election (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

 (Adds deaths, details, official says election a "mess")

     By Jim Loney and Kieran Murray

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Three people died in election
day incidents in Haiti but voters put aside fears of violence and jammed
chaotic polling centers on Tuesday in the first election since
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was toppled two years ago.
     Voting began more than three hours late and was very slow, infuriating
poor supporters of ex-president Rene Preval, a one-time Aristide ally
favored to win.
     Official results may not be known for days and the rocky start marred
an election that could prove troublesome for U.S. policy in the
impoverished nation of 8.5 million people.
     Critics accused Aristide of despotism and Washington pressed him to
leave during a bloody rebellion in 2004 only to find his one-time ally
Preval now favored to retake the presidency.
     Some supporters of Preval accused the government of planning the long
delays to minimize the vote in poor areas and so hurt Preval's chances.
     "It's a fraud. If we can't vote, Preval won't be elected," said Ysail
Joseph, a 75-year-old man who got up at 4 a.m. to walk from the City Soleil
slum to his polling station but was still there waiting to vote several
hours later.
     "It's a mess. There is no question about that," said Patrick Fequiere,
a member of Haiti's electoral council.
     Three people died in election day incidents. U.N. spokesman David
Wimhurst said a police officer killed a citizen near a polling station in
the northern town of Gros-Morne, and was then killed by people who
witnessed the incident. A 75-year-old old man died in a crush at another
station in the capital,
     U.N. peacekeeping troops stood watch to stave off violence. U.N.
officials and Haiti's interim government acknowledged problems but they
ordered stations to stay open into the evening to let everyone vote, no
matter how late.
     Johan Van Hecke, head of a European Union observer mission, said there
were some serious problems. "The (voter) lists were full of mistakes and
people were not on the lists."
     There was disappointment for thousands who rose before dawn and
marched past rooting pigs, smoking garbage and U.N. armored personnel
carriers to a voting station near Cite Soleil.
     Unable to vote, they charged up and down the street, waving tree
branches and chanting Preval slogans. Voting was slow and chaotic even when
the center opened almost 3 1/2 hours late.
     Suspecting foul play, some said wealthy Haitians were already casting
ballots for Preval's top rival, businessman Charles Baker, while slum
dwellers waited.
     "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 hope for an end to the
instability that has crippled Haiti since then.
     A new round of fighting could plunge the poorest country in the
Americas into even deeper chaos.
     Preval draws support from the dire slums where Aristide was strongest.
He was president from 1996 to 2001, an era of calm between Aristide's two
terms, and is Haiti's only elected leader to complete his term and hand
over power peacefully.
     But he is opposed by the same wealthy elite that helped drive Aristide
from power.
     Preval, who held a comfortable lead in opinion polls, needs more than
50 percent of the votes to avoid a run-off.
     His main rivals are Baker, an industrialist, and Leslie Manigat, who
was president for a few months in 1988 before being deposed in a military
coup. There are 33 presidential candidates, but most stand no chance.
     Pro-Aristide gang leaders blamed for a wave of kidnappings over the
last year recently changed tack by backing the poll, and the level of
violence dropped dramatically in recent days.
     Still, experts say Haiti is awash with weapons and Preval's supporters
could turn violent if he loses or if they suspect fraud. On the other side,
anti-Aristide armed groups could try to disrupt the election to keep Preval
out of power.
     There was no doubting Haitians' commitment, however.
     At a school in the capital where thugs killed voters with guns and
machetes in 1987, halting one of Haiti's first attempts at democratic
elections, 45-year-old Molene Zephyr said she overcame her fear to vote.
     "I was in the line when they came to shoot here in 1987. I ran and hid
myself behind a wall and many other people did the same. I was afraid to
come here today because of what happened. But I came because I want to see
change in the country."

  (Additional reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva)