27732: (news) Chamberlain: Preval supporters protest Haiti election results (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva and Jim Loney

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Protesters paralyzed the
capital on Monday and stormed the hotel where officials have provided
incomplete results from Haiti's nearly week-old election as ex-President
Rene Preval fell further below the 50 percent needed to win the presidency.
     Witnesses said U.N peacekeepers fired into a crowd of protesters in
Tabarre, just north of the capital, killing at least two people. A U.N.
spokesman denied the accusation, saying the troops shot into the air.
     The peaceful atmosphere that surrounded last Tuesday's balloting, the
first since Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted by an armed rebellion two
years ago, began to unravel six days later amid charges that election
officials were tampering with results to prevent Preval from taking a
first-round victory.
     Like Aristide, Preval is viewed as a champion of the Caribbean
country's poor masses, most of whom live on $1 a day, but he is distrusted
by the small and wealthy elite who helped push Aristide from power in
February 2004.
     In Tabarre, Jordanian troops started shooting after protesters refused
to let them pass a barricade, according to several eyewitnesses. "They got
angry. They opened fire at the crowd and two people were killed," said Carl
Gregoire.
     U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said peacekeepers fired two warning
rounds into the air. "They did not injure anybody. Later, shots were fired
by unidentified individuals in the same area," he said. "I can assure you
no individuals were wounded by U.N. peacekeepers."
     Across the chaotic capital of Port-au-Prince, traffic ground to a
halt, schools shut down and the U.N. told its employees to stay home as
demonstrators piled wrecked cars and tree branches in the streets after the
latest results.
     With 90 percent of the vote counted, the Provisional Electoral Council
said Preval had 48.7 percent.
     At midday, hundreds of protesters, dancing and chanting "Preval is
President!" smashed through the steel gates of the luxury Montana Hotel and
swarmed through the complex where election officials have been briefing
journalists on results. Most of the foreign press and some election
observers are staying at the hotel.
     "We have voted. We will not vote again. Preval is president," said
Michael Jean, accusing elections officials of manipulating the vote count.
"Give us the results."
     Facing grim U.N. civilian police in blue helmets, the protesters
shouted "if you shoot, we will burn the hotel."
     South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the 1984 Nobel peace laureate,
appeared on a balcony wearing a large metal cross on a chain around his
neck, gesturing to the crowd to calm down.
     Waving tree branches and twigs with three leaves representing Preval's
political coalition, known as "Lespwa," or "the Hope," protesters stormed
through the lobby and along corridors, banging on doors. Hundreds gathered
on the pool deck and dozens jumped into the pool, laughing and splashing.
     When initial results were announced several days ago, Preval held 61
percent of the vote, comfortably over the 50 percent plus one vote needed
to avoid a runoff on March 19. But his lead has since narrowed.
     The results on Monday had another ex-president, Leslie Manigat, at
11.8 percent percent and the main candidate for the business elite,
industrialist Charles Baker, third at 7.9 percent.
     Protesters marched near the National Palace and the vote tabulation
center, beating drums and chanting support for Preval. They demanded the
unassuming, 63-year-old agronomist be declared the winner without delay.
     Smoke from burning tires rose near the seaport, the airport and a half
dozen other locations around the sprawling city.
     Michel Brunache, chief of staff for interim President Boniface
Alexandre, appealed for calm. "We are urging those who are demonstrating to
go back home and stay calm," he said. "The results will be published as
soon as possible."
     Preval flew to the capital in a U.N. helicopter from his mountain
hometown of Marmelade. He met with diplomats in the city but did not
immediately address his supporters. Preval complained on Sunday that
elections officials had released conflicting results. Two members of the
nine-member electoral council have said the vote was being manipulated.
     Haiti's short history of democracy since the family dictatorship of
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier has been turbulent. Aristide was ousted by an
armed revolt in February 2004 and Washington has urged Preval, if elected,
not to allow the former Roman Catholic priest to return from exile.

  (Additional reporting by Oliver Ellrodt in Marmelade)