Haiti, pressured, sets revised presidency runoff

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haiti yesterday heeded  foreign pressure and amended the results of its November  first-round election, setting up a presidential runoff that  excludes a government-backed candidate hit by fraud  allegations.

Mirlande Manigat (left) and Michel Martelly

The country’s Provisional Electoral Council, or CEP, said  former first lady Mirlande Manigat and musician Michel “Sweet  Mickey” Martelly were the two top finishers in the chaotic Nov.  28 vote, ahead of government technocrat Jude Celestin.

The two candidates will contest a runoff set for March 20  to replace outgoing President Rene Preval.

The definitive CEP results, which reversed a preliminary  count that had placed Celestin second and in the runoff,  averted a showdown between Haiti’s government and electoral  officials and the Organization of American States and Western  donors including the United States.

They were in line with a revision carried out by OAS  experts, who, addressing allegations of widespread fraud and  irregularities in the first-round vote tallies, recommended  Martelly go through to the runoff instead of Celestin,

Opposition matriarch Manigat, 70, the wife of Leslie  Manigat, who was president for a few months in 1988, did not  gain enough votes to win outright in the first round. No  percentages, just the positions, were announced on Thursday.

After Martelly supporters rioted in December against the  initial results, the United Nations, United States and other  Western donor governments pressured Haiti’s leaders and  electoral authorities to adopt the OAS recommendation.

There had been fears the December unrest could escalate and  derail the elections, threatening the transfer of power by  Preval and putting at risk billions of dollars of aid pledged  to help the poor Caribbean nation recover from a devastating  2010 earthquake.
“Today is not a gift, we fought for it,” Martelly told a  news conference where he welcomed the CEP’s final results. “Finally, the electoral council heard the voice of the  population. The results matched the will of the Haitian people  who voted for Manigat and Martelly,” he said. But Martelly, 49, added the CEP was “not credible” and that  his campaign would soon lay out “what exact steps need to be  taken” to fix that before the runoff.
Manigat congratulated Martelly and said she hoped the  runoff campaign “will be held in an atmosphere of civility,  that the focus will be put on the issues that matter to the  Haitian people.”

The national coordinator for Celestin’s Inite party, Joseph  Lambert, said the party accepted Thursday’s results and would  turn its attention toward winning a majority in Parliament.

The U.S. Embassy said it was ready to assist Haiti in  promoting “a free and fair electoral process” and reducing the  fraud and irregularities that plagued the first round.