27642: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Elections (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ANDREW SELSKY

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 10 (AP) -- Haiti's likely next president, Rene
Preval, faces a crowded and demanding agenda if he is to have a chance of
resuscitating this Caribbean nation from dire poverty.
   He must move quickly to stem gang violence causing manufacturers to
close their doors, eliminating thousands of jobs in the Western
Hemisphere's poorest nation. And he will have to negotiate with parliament
-- his Lespwa Party is not expected to receive a majority -- to name a
Cabinet and prime minister and pass legislation.
   Election workers on Friday tallied votes three days after a huge voter
turnout almost overwhelmed poll workers. Preval, a former president who is
highly popular among the poor, has 61.5 percent of 282,327 valid votes
counted so far.
   More than 1.75 million votes were cast, U.N. officials said. Haiti's
electoral commission said there could be enough results tallied by late
Saturday to draw more solid conclusions about the outcome.
   A candidate running a distant third said he wants the electoral council
to investigate reports of fraud, claiming some people voted several times.
International observers have praised Tuesday's elections as free and fair.
   If Preval wins, he will have to open negotiations with opposition
parties in parliament. The gang violence fueling job losses must be
stopped, and he must assure the poor he will be effective.
   "Everything in Haiti is broken and everything needs fixing," said Robert
Maguire, director of the international affairs program at Trinity
University in Washington. "One of the most immediate tasks is
reconciliation and dialogue among Haitians."
   Preval, an agronomist, has not announced any specific plans for
addressing Haiti's problems, beyond pledging to improve security and create
jobs -- the same promises made by all the major candidates in the election.
   Preval, whose Lespwa Party's name means "hope" in Creole, was president
from 1996-2001. Then, his efforts at agrarian reform failed because poor
people were not given enough land to live on. And human rights advocates
accused him of interfering in the judicial system and of politicizing the
police force.
   Haiti has been without an elected leadership and has been descending
into anarchy since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a bloody
rebellion two years ago. The voter turnout showed Haitians long for
stability.
   Preval, a 63-year-old former Aristide protege, has refrained from
declaring victory, but indicated he would have an unconventional style.
   "Don't ask me to wear a tie," he told reporters Friday in his home
village of Marmelade. He also recalled his youthful days as an anarchist.
   "I still am," he quipped, adding that he is a nonviolent one who
believes power should flow from government to the people.
   Preval must help bring together Haiti's polarized society that is split
between the few rich and the majority poor, experts say.
   Preval already has strong support from Cite Soleil, the Port-au-Prince
slum where U.N. peacekeepers have regularly traded fire with well-armed
gang members. A gang leader who goes by the name Toutou said armed factions
are willing to "put down our guns" if their opponents do the same.
   "I think Preval is going to come in and help with health care, put more
schools in the slum, bring treated water to drink and teams who can come in
and clean the sewers," said Toutou, who describes himself as a social
activist.
   Preval's honeymoon period is apt to be short among those who live in the
sprawling slums, where a lack of opportunity has steered young men into
gangs that have battled U.N. peacekeepers and kidnapped hundreds of people
for ransom.
   "The window will probably not be open too long," Maguire said. "He will
have to show some improvement in their lives. And he will need partnerships
of Haitians with resources to do this."
   Since wealthier Haitians have been among the kidnap victims, "it's in
their interest ultimately to become proactive in trying to address the
problems of Haiti's poor," Maguire said in a telephone interview.
   Election returns indicated Preval might win a majority of the votes and
avoid a March runoff. The early returns had Leslie Manigat, a former
president, with 13 percent of the vote and businessman Charles Henri Baker
with 6 percent.
   Baker claimed there was fraud.
   "We're starting to hear that people voted five times, 10 times, 20
times," Baker said. "This is a worry to us because we don't know if it
happened at one center, 10 centers ... or all over the country."
   Officials at Haiti's electoral office weren't immediately available for
comment.
   If Preval wins, it will be people like Baker -- a wealthy garment
factory owner -- he must try to win over so Haiti charts a new course,
Maguire said.
   "Preval is going to have to be bringing people to the table and finding
common ground to move forward," he said. "It is going to be quite a
challenge."
   ------
   Associated Press writer Joseph B. Frazier in Marmelade contributed to
this report.