Haiti to verify vote count after violence over preliminary results

Thu, 09 Dec 2010

Washington/Port-au-Prince - Haiti's electoral authorities on Thursday said they will verify the vote count from last month's elections after the disputed preliminary results triggered violence across the country.

"We are going to create a commission to verify the count," Philippe Augustin, a member of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) told the German Press Agency dpa.

The preliminary results from the November 28 poll gave a narrow lead to ruling party candidate Jude Celestin over popular musician Michael Martelly for second place in January's runoff.

Former first lady Mirlande Manigat received 31.37 per cent of the vote, according to the electoral commission results, and will face Celestin, who received 22.48 per cent. Martelly got 21.89 per cent of votes, despite recent polls suggesting he would defeat Celestin, the protege of outgoing President Rene Preval.

The CEP's Augustin said international observers and representatives of the three candidates were to be made part of the commission.

Haitian daily Le Nouvelliste quoted a CEP statement as saying that this was an "emergency, exceptional verification procedure."

It remained unclear when the verification would start.

The demonstrations started shortly after the preliminary results were announced late Tuesday and the country has continued to simmer since.

Thousands of angry Haitians went on a rampage across the impoverished nation, burning tires, looting stores, blocking roads with rubble and setting fire to offices of the governing party over widespread allegations of vote rigging in the elections.

There were hopes that the election would yield a fresh and stable leadership for Haiti, to aid the country's reconstruction process as it struggles to emerge from the rubble of January's devastating earthquake, which killed close to 230,000 people, and a raging cholera epidemic that has left more than 2,100 dead.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357453,count-violence-preliminary-results.html.