Haiti anti-vote protesters march, clash with police

Mirlande Manigat

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Hundreds of protesters  demanding the annulment of Haiti’s elections marched in the  capital for the second time in days today, clashing with  riot police and stoking tensions ahead of results expected on  Tuesday.
The Western Hemisphere’s poorest state, which was  devastated by a January earthquake and is battling a deadly  cholera epidemic that kills dozens each day, is on edge a week  after holding presidential and legislative polls.
The international community had hoped the Nov. 28 vote  would deliver a stable, legitimate government, but that goal  looks threatened following voting problems on the day of the  ballot, widespread fraud allegations and simmering unrest.
At the end of today’s march by more than 1,500 protesters  in Port-au-Prince, Haitian riot police fired tear gas to  disperse them when they tried to break through a barrier  blocking access to the area in front of the white presidential  palace, which was badly wrecked in the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Demonstrators and bystanders scattered as stinging gas  clouds wafted through the tent and tarpaulin shelters of a  large crowded camp of thousands of homeless earthquake  survivors located in front of the crumbling palace.
Provisional results from the Nov. 28 vote are due to be  announced on Tuesday. United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti are  bracing for possible trouble after the polls took place amid  confusion and with a cholera epidemic raging in the country.
The presidential contest featuring 18 candidates is widely  expected to go to a deciding run-off, probably on Jan. 16.    U.N. troops and police stayed mostly out of sight during  Sunday’s march although some protesters at one point chased and  stoned a U.N. vehicle, which raced away.
The marchers also came under attack from counter-protesters  who threw stones.
The demonstration, following a similar protest on Thursday,  was led by several members of a group of around a dozen  presidential candidates — excluding the main frontrunners —  who have repudiated the elections, alleging “massive fraud”.
“ELECTORAL MASQUERADE”
While acknowledging problems and irregularities, the United  Nations and international observers have cautiously endorsed  the vote as acceptable and urged outgoing President Rene  Preval’s government and its opponents to respect the outcome.
The protesters on Sunday yelled “Arrest Preval”. They  accused the president, his protege presidential candidate Jude  Celestin, and electoral authorities they say are controlled by  Preval, of trying to steal the Haitian elections.
“He (Preval) blocked the election and we will block the  country if it continues,” Satelia Saint-Louis, a 37-year-old  protester, told Reuters.
Government technocrat Celestin and two prominent  anti-Preval candidates, opposition matriarch and former First  Lady Mirlande Manigat and popular musician Michel “Sweet Micky”  Martelly, are seen as the leading contenders in the race. Two  of them could go through to the deciding run-off.
Jean-Henry Ceant, one of the presidential contenders  repudiating the election process, condemned what he called the  “electoral masquerade” and said the protests would continue “as  long as necessary” until the process was annulled.
Manigat and Martelly had originally joined other candidates  in denouncing fraud and calling for an annulment. But after 24  hours of intense pressure from U.N. officials and other foreign  diplomats, they backed down and said they wanted the vote to be  counted, saying they expected to be the election leaders.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the election  candidates and their supporters to respect the law and shun  violence, warning that unrest will only hinder the ongoing  fight against the unchecked cholera epidemic which has killed  at least 2,000 people.
Analysts say it is far from clear whether the elections can  deliver the stability Haiti urgently needs.
“No matter who goes to the second round, Haiti’s political  leaders, the United Nations, the OAS (Organization of American  States) and donors need to immediately forge a national  consensus to move past this election, accelerate earthquake  recovery and contain the cholera epidemic,” Mark Schneider of  the International Crisis Group, wrote in a recent commentary  published in Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper.

Mirlande Manigat
Mirlande Manigat