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[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Miami Herald

Editorial

Posted on Fri, Feb. 17, 2006



Mr. Préval wins Haiti's presidency
OUR OPINION: NEGOTIATION, COMPROMISE GOOD LESSON FOR HAITIAN POLITICS



Haiti's new president has his work cut out for him. René Préval was the clear 
choice of the Haitian people. Yes, a smoother election and vote count would 
have been preferable. But, ultimately, negotiation and compromise sealed Mr. 
Préval's victory. This ended an electoral crisis and the potential for 
violence.

For the first time in years, Haiti has reason for hope. While deep-rooted 
problems won't disappear overnight, a legitimate government, backed by the 
international community, could begin to address security, the economy and other 
challenges. Mr. Préval will stand an better chance of turning the nation around 
if he can rally Haiti's political and business leaders, even those who opposed 
him, to unify behind a common agenda. The electoral crisis provides a good 
lesson in how to resolve political differences for the sake of the greater good 
through negotiation and compromise.

A clear majority

Though exit polls appeared to show that Mr. Préval had won a clear majority, 
his margin fell below 50 percent as the count neared an end. Urgency mounted 
after thousands of ballots appeared in a Port-au-Prince dump, raising 
suspicions of vote fraud. Largely peaceful protests threatened to spiral out of 
control.

In fact, electoral authorities had found problems with large numbers of 
missing, invalidated and blank ballots. Negotiations ensued among officials 
from Haiti's interim government, its electoral council, the U.N. mission, Mr. 
Préval's party and international diplomats. The solution that assured Mr. 
Préval's win used an electoral loophole to proportionately allocate blank votes 
-- most of which were believed to be unused ballots mistakenly included in the 
count -- among the 33 candidates.

Sensible approach

A former president, Mr. Préval will have a chance to show how much better he 
can do now outside the shadow of his former ally, ousted President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. One thorny issue involves disarming violent slum gangs, 
many of which appeared to support his candidacy, that terrorize much of 
Port-au-Prince and hurt commerce. In an earlier interview with The Miami 
Herald, Mr. Préval described a sensible approach combining police action along 
with ''massive social investment'' that would provide jobs and isolate the 
``criminals.''

Mr. Préval will not lack issues to tackle. Haiti needs to clean up its police 
force and judiciary; to get tons of illegal weapons off the streets, with U.N. 
help; to rebuild all basic systems, from education and healthcare to utilities 
and roads. Haiti needs to heal its fractured society.