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Haitians likely to bring back Aristide |
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July 10, 2000
ST. MARC, Haiti (AP) - Haitians appeared set to grant former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party overwhelming control of Parliament in elections Sunday, even though many people question the legality of a vote that is being challenged by opposition parties and much of the international community. At stake are 45 seats in the 83-member Chamber of deputies as well as dlrs 500 million in frozen foreign aid and, in all likelihood, the future of a tortuous decade-old experiment with democracy in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Polls were to open at 6 a.m. (1100 GMT) Sunday for the second round vote. The first round May 21 for legislative and local elections yielded strong support for Aristide's Lavalas Family party - but also bitter recriminations over a vote count that allegedly was illegally manipulated to favor his party. "The elections were not fair," said 75-year-old voter Kiefer Nazaire. But in a reflection of the fundamental resilience of Aristide, Nazaire said he would vote Sunday for Lavalas because he felt there was no viable alternative. According to the first-round count, Lavalas candidates were enjoying a lead in all the districts at stake Sunday. Opposition parties may have sent a contradictory message: Their candidates are running Sunday, but their national leaders have called for a boycott of the vote. Still, the opposition parties' claims may be sinking in. A poll of 458 people in Le Nouvelliste newspaper Saturday showed 43 percent believed there was "massive fraud" in the first round. The poll had a margin of error of 5-7 percentage points. The elections have been tainted from the beginning by charges that Lavalas used intimidation tactics and stacked electoral councils with its people. Fifteen people, most from the opposition, were killed in the run-up to the May 21 elections. But the main bone of contention now is about the first-round vote count. Candidates had to win a majority of 50 percent plus one vote to claim victory. But officials counted the votes of only the top four contenders in each race, resulting in percentages that observers say gave false first-round victories to numerous Lavalas candidates. Those results gave Aristide candidates 16 of 19 contested seats in the 27-seat Senate. An independent candidate won one seat, and results have not been announced for the other two. In the 83-member Chamber of Deputies, Aristide's party won 26 seats in the first round, and in the cases of 12 other seats - most in the Grand'-Anse district - counting has not been completed or will be decided in a later runoff. Results released Friday also gave Lavalas 89 of 115 mayoral elections and 321 of 485 rural councils. The electoral council president fled to the United States last month, saying he feared he would be killed because he would not sign off on false results, and two other members of the nine-member council resigned in protest over the disputed results. The United Nations, the United States, Canada and France have condemned the first-round count, and international observers have refused to monitor Sunday's second round in protest. On Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a last-minute appeal for Haiti to correct the balloting process, saying the count controversy "calls into question the credibility of the entire Haitian election process." Sunday's voting - to be monitored only by two local human rights groups and a pro-government peasant union - caps a tortuous decade-long experiment with democracy in Haiti. Aristide was elected in 1990 but was overthrown in a 1991 army-backed coup. With tens of thousands of Haitian boat people landing in Florida and thousands of civilians being murdered in Haiti, U.S. President Bill Clinton sent some 20,000 troops to restore the former Catholic priest to power in 1994 - even though his popularity was based on an anti-capitalist, anti-American stance. Haitian law barred Aristide from seeking a consecutive term in 1995 elections. Haiti hasn't had a Parliament since January 1999, when an 18-month struggle over legislative elections marred by irregularities led Aristide's successor and protege, President Rene Preval, to dismiss lawmakers. He has ruled by decree since. The Caribbean country of 8 million people lives in misery. Two-thirds of workers don't have regular jobs, electricity in the capital is limited to about 12 hours a day, and most people don't have running water or telephones. Many people here still view Aristide - who is favored to win November presidential elections - as a potential savior, and that support is filtering down to his party. "Lavalas, for us, is the only hope here," said Jean St. Juste, a 27-year-old unemployed man in the port of St. Marc. |