rushed to get home in the capital Wednesday as Haitians feared unrest
with the expected announcement of final results from the disputed
presidential election.
The provisional electoral commission was scheduled to announce which
two of the three front-running candidates from the November ballot
would get spots in a March runoff.
Preliminary results showing government-backed candidate Jude Celestin
edging out popular singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly set off often
violent protests in December. Those figures were released late in the
evening in a failed effort to head off unrest.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton flew to Port-au-Prince
on Sunday to meet with all three candidates and reaffirm in person to
President Rene Preval that Washington backed an Organization of
American States report recommending that Celestin be dropped from the
race.
But on Tuesday rumors spread through the capital that the report would
be rejected, either by putting Celestin in the next round or canceling
the election altogether.
Annulling the election outright could also ruin the advantage of
first-place candidate Mirlande Manigat, a conservative former first
lady whose supporters have protested violently in her favor, mainly in
the countryside.
"Haiti awaits the final presidential results with trepidation," Radio
Kiskeya said on its website. Radio Metropole said, "Nobody knows what
will happen during these next few hours, which may be crucial for the
future of the country."
The U.S. Embassy issued an alert for U.S. citizens warning of the
"potential for elections-related violence throughout Haiti for the
duration of the elections period."
The Nov. 28 first round included widespread disorganization, violence,
intimidation, fraud and a call on election day from nearly every
candidate — including Martelly and Manigat — to cancel the vote while
it was going on.
An OAS team recommended that recalculating the results based on
estimates of fraud would create a Manigat-Martelly faceoff in the
runoff.
This week the Congressional Black Caucus issued a statement breaking
with the State Department and calling on "the United States and the
international community to uphold the ideals of fairness and support a
new Haiti election process that is free and fair."
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday night that
officials in Washington were awaiting the results.
"We certainly reiterate our strong desire that the results reflect the
will of the Haitian people and then enable Haiti to move on with the
follow-on elections that they've already announced for next month," he
said.
Preval's five-year term is scheduled to end Monday under the
constitution. An emergency law passed by members of his former party
in an expiring Senate would allow him to remain in office for up to
three more months, in part because his 2006 inauguration was delayed.
If Preval steps down as scheduled, the Haitian constitution says the
highest-ranking member of Haiti's supreme court would take over the
country pending an election to be held no less than 45 days and no
more than 90 days later. The court's presidency is currently vacant.
The situation is further complicated by the recent return of ousted
dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier after 25 years of exile and discussions
surrounding a potential return by exiled President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, whose party was not allowed to participate in the election.
