27952: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Elections

[corbetre@webster.edu]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 21 (AP) -- The Haitian electoral chief who fled the
country after receiving threats will be replaced by a three-person
commission to monitor ballot counting for legislative races in the Feb. 7
elections, an official said Tuesday.
   The committee of three senior election officials will oversee the
remaining tabulation of ballots and the planned runoff for Haiti's 129
legislative seats, said Stephane Lacroix, spokesman for the nine-member
electoral council.
   Jacques Bernard, appointed three months ago to lead the embattled
council out of organizational disarray, fled Haiti for the United States on
Sunday, three days after presidential front-runner Rene Preval was declared
the winner with four times as many votes as his nearest rival.
   Delays in the vote count and fraud charges sparked angry street protests
by Preval supporters who accused Bernard of trying to manipulate the
results -- a charge he denied.
   Preval, a former president with a strong following among his country's
poor majority, is a former protege of ousted leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
who said on South African television Tuesday that he wants to return to his
country from exile.
   The United States and others have warned that the return of Aristide,
who was forced to flee the country following a violent rebellion two years
ago, could further destabilize Haiti.
   Bernard reported on Friday that he had received threats and asked for
more security. Over the weekend, assailants burned and looted his farmhouse
outside the capital of Port-au-Prince.
   After the attack, Bernard denounced two electoral council members who
had publicly accused him of being power-hungry and making decisions without
consulting the rest of the council, which was charged with organizing the
balloting.
   One of the two members, Pierre Richard Duchemin, was among those
appointed to the new committee. The other two committee members are
Francois Benoit, head of the country's vote tabulation center, and Rosemond
Pradel, secretary-general of the electoral council.
   Delays have slowed the release of final results for the legislative
races, and officials say the planned March 19 runoff will likely be
postponed.


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