#5225: Aristide expected to file for presidential vote... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier@tradewind.net

Aristide expected to file for presidential vote, opposition boycott
 October 2, 2000 Web posted at: 9:16 PM (0116 GMT)

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
was expected to file his candidacy for November 26 presidential
elections on Monday, making his victory a foregone conclusion in the
face of an opposition boycott. On Monday, supporters handed out posters
with Aristide's portrait and campaign slogan "Peace in the
Belly! Peace of Mind!"  Since registration for the race began September
20 only two other people have  put forward their candidacy -- both
political unknowns.  Monday is the deadline for registering for the
presidential race, as well as for nine Senate seats and
one seat in the lower House of Assembly. Opposition parties
charge that legislative elections in May, June and July were           
rigged to favor candidates of Aristide's Lavalas Family party -- which
won 80 percent of Parliament seats. All the parties are boycotting the
November elections, charging Aristide wants to establish a dictatorship
in the Caribbean country. Registered for the presidential race are
Calixte Dorisca, 49, who describes himself as "an independent candidate
for an independent people" who has lived for years between
Brooklyn, New York, and Port-au-Prince; and the great-grandson of
Haitian President Boisrond Canal, 54-year-old teacher Jacques           
Philippe Dorce.  There were 11 candidates when Aristide won elections in
1990 and 14  candidates in 1995 elections won by his hand-picked
successor, Rene Preval. Aristide was Haiti's first freely elected
president after nearly two hundred turbulent years of dictatorship by
soldiers and civilians. In a bloody coup in September 1991, the army
ousted Aristide. Three years later, U.S. President Bill Clinton sent
20,000 troops to end military killings of thousands of innocent
civilians and stem a massive flow of Haitian boat people to Florida. 
 But Haiti has remained mired in poverty and political power struggles
that led Preval to dismiss Parliament. When lawmakers took office August
28, Haiti had not had a Parliament for 19 months. International donors
found this year's legislative balloting acceptable but objected
  to the method used to determine first-round Senate winners, saying
seats given to 10 Aristide party candidates should have been decided in
runoffs. The European Union and the United States, Haiti's biggest
donors, have threatened to suspend aid or redirect funds through private
agencies if the government does not revise the questionable results. 
 Preval has said they are interfering in Haiti's internal affairs.