27548: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti awaits results of presidential vote (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Jim Loney and Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Haiti awaited results on
Wednesday of its first election since Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed
two years ago after a vote troubled by poll problems but relatively free of
violence.
     Vote counting started shortly after polls closed on Tuesday evening.
Balloting was extended for several hours at some polling stations, where
Haitians voted by candlelight after a chaotic start to election day left
many closed for hours after they were scheduled to open.
     The first results were expected to trickle in on Wednesday but
officials have said the winner might not be known for days. Ballots were
being carried by mule across mountainous terrain in some remote locations.
     Officials said turnout was among the best for any election in the
short democratic history of the poorest country in the Americas.
     Thousands of voters had marched out of Port-au-Prince slums, many to
cast ballots for ex-President Rene Preval, a former Aristide ally favored
to retake the presidency.
     A U.S. official said Washington was prepared to work with whomever
wins but the result could prove a disappointment for U.S. policymakers who
pressured Aristide to leave Haiti in 2004 only to find his one-time protege
the favorite to regain the National Palace.
     Preval, one of 33 candidates, must capture more than 50 percent of
votes cast to avoid a runoff on March 19.
     Despite the problems -- some voters walked for miles to voting centers
only to be turned away because they could not find their names on
registration lists -- Haitian election authorities and some international
officials called the oft-delayed vote a success.
     "Finally the elections took place and they are good elections of which
all Haitians can be proud," Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the
Organization of American States, said. The vote was originally set for
November.
     But complaints were rampant in the capital. Some voters were told they
could not cast ballots because their polling stations were changed at the
last moment.
     Others said poll workers tore small paper stickers that designated
their appropriate polling station off their voter identity cards and sent
them to others. When they arrived, they could not vote because they did not
have the sticker.
     "I went in the first line and they took it off. Then I went to a
second line and they told me I could not vote because I didn't have it.
This is not fair," said Gertha Estira, 19, who arrived at a voting center
at 8 a.m. after a long walk from the Cite Soleil slum but six hours later
had still not voted.
     At least three people died in election day incidents. A U.N. spokesman
said a police officer shot and killed a citizen near a polling center in
the northern town of Gros-Morne and then was slain by a mob of bystanders.
     Critics accused Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest who was a
champion of the poor, of running a corrupt administration in his second
term in office but he remains popular in Haiti's overcrowded slums.
     Although Preval did not run for Aristide's Lavalas Family party, he
gained the support of many Aristide loyalists, who accused the wealthy
elite of fraud because many voting stations in poor areas failed to open on
time.
     "I am patient because our deliverance is Lespwa," said voter Rony
Florvil, referring to the coalition of groups that supported Preval. Lespwa
translates as "the hope."
     "Without Lespwa, there is nothing," Florvil said.