PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Supporters in Haiti of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide demonstrated for his return yesterday as the country nervously waited to hear who would contest the presidency in a March run-off election.
Several hundred pro-Aristide protesters set tires aflame in front of the Foreign Ministry in Port-au-Prince, demanding that Haiti’s government deliver the diplomatic passport Aristide is requesting to be able to come home from exile in South Africa. “We’ll die for Aristide,” and “Aristide must come back” chanted some of the protesters, to the sound of drums. The Aristide followers demonstrated on the day Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) is scheduled to announce definitive first-round results from chaotic Nov. 28 elections that triggered riots and fraud allegations in the poor, earthquake-battered Caribbean state.
The council has to decide who will join former first lady Mirlande Manigat in the March 20 run-off — popular musician Michel Martelly or government-backed Jude Celestin. Manigat had the most first-round votes but not enough to win outright. The United States and United Nations have pressed Haitian authorities to accept an Organization of American States (OAS) revision of initial vote results that recommends putting Martelly in the run-off in place of Celestin.
