PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haiti’s ruling party, under intense international pressure, said today it had agreed to pull its presidential candidate out of disputed elections, but the candidate himself had not yet formally withdrawn.
The withdrawal of Jude Celestin, candidate for the ruling INITE coalition of outgoing Haitian President Rene Preval, would allow opposition candidate and popular musician Michel Martelly to move into a second-round run-off vote.
This was the recommendation advanced, with heavy pressure from the United Nations and western donors, by a team of experts from the Organization of American States, who challenged preliminary results from the chaotic Nov. 28 elections that put Celestin, not Martelly, in the run-off.
The OAS team cited vote tallying “irregularities.”
With Celestin out, Martelly would square off in a decisive second-round vote against opposition matriarch Mirlande Manigat, whom the OAS experts confirmed as first round winner, although she did not gain enough votes to win outright. No date has been set for the second round yet.
