Inité retire la candidature de Jude Celestin

Nouvelliste - 26 Janvier 2011
Inité retire la candidature de Jude Celestin
Haïti: Le parti du pouvoir en Haïti, Inité, a annoncé mercredi avoir officiellement décidé de retirer la candidature de son candidat Jude Célestin à la présidence du pays, indique-t-il dans un communiqué

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Miami Heralds - Wed. Jan. 26

Haitian presidential candidate Jude Célestin resists pressure to withdraw

OAS report has suggested he should not be included in a runoff election

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Haitian presidential candidate Jude Célestin is resisting pressure from his own political coalition to withdraw his candidacy and break an electoral impasse.

``Jude doesn't agree,'' Joseph Lambert, head of the INITE (UNITY) coalition told The Miami Herald. ``We asked him to remove himself and he said, `I am not made that way. It is not part of my mental fabric.'''

A report by an Organization of American States team, which was formed after allegations of massive fraud in the Nov. 18 presidential election, suggests that a runoff election should be between former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who finished first, and singer Michel ``Sweet Micky'' Martelly, who finished third.

It arrived at its conclusion after reviewing 234 tally sheets out of more than 900 from the disputed elections. The report shows 50,000 votes had to be cast aside as either fraudulent or ``irregular'' votes.

Preliminary results released by the Haitian government had Manigat first and Celestin, the hand-picked candidate of President René Préval, second, with Martelly trailing by only several thousand votes.

Lambert said INITE ``in principle'' has agreed to ask Celestin to withdraw but is still wrestling with the matter.

Celestin, however, wants his day in court where his lawyers are working to prove that he does indeed have a right to advance into the runoff despite the OAS findings, said Lambert.

Celestin and his lawyer argue that the OAS report is flawed.

The report has been a point of contention between Haitian officials, who disagree with the results and methodology, and the United States.

Susan Rice, the top U.S. diplomat to the United Nations, last week warned Haiti that it could lose international assistance if it does not accept the OAS recommendations. But even the OAS has said that its recommendations are not results, but rather calculations, and they cannot be adopted until a phase for disputes is completed. Disputes are expected to be heard late Wednesday or Thursday.

Préval has personally held several meetings with coalition members to try and persuade Célestin to withdraw. But the candidate has not attended any of the meetings.

Meanwhile, Haiti is in a wait-and-see mode, and some have started to question what they perceive as ``big-foot'' diplomacy on the part of the United States.

``Everyone sees the hands of the international community in these elections,'' said a frustrated Lambert. ``They have law, but we don't' have laws? We are not a country anymore?''

He feels such efforts could trigger unrest. ``They are inviting catastrophe after the departure of René Préval. Everytime we have a president leave office we have catastrophe,'' he said. ``And the people are the victims. My objective is to have a constitutional government replace this government in a ceremony. All of my efforts are to ensure President Préval finishes the end of his mandate.''

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Nouvelliste - 24 Janvier 2011
Le candidat du pouvoir envisage de se retirer du scrutin


Haïti: Le candidat du pouvoir à la présidentielle haïtienne Jude Célestin, accusé d'avoir bénéficié de fraudes au premier tour, pourrait "retirer sa candidature dans les prochaines heures", a déclaré mardi un haut responsable de son parti.

Selon les résultats préliminaires diffusés par le Conseil électoral, M. Célestin était arrivé en deuxième position lors du premier tour de l'élection du 28 novembre en recueillant 22% des suffrages derrière Mirlande Manigat (31%) et devant, pour quelques milliers de voix, Michel Martelly (21%).

Mais ces résultats ont été contestés par les partisans de M. Martelly, sur fond d'accusations de fraudes, et une mission d'experts internationaux qui a analysé le scrutin a récemment recommandé d'écarter du deuxième tour le candidat proche du président sortant René Préval, au profit de M. Martelly.

"Nous envisageons le retrait de la candidature de M. Célestin quels que soient le cas de figure et les résultats qui seront publiés par le Conseil électoral", a déclaré mardi le sénateur haïtien Joseph Lambert à Radio Métropole.

M. Lambert, qui est le coordonnateur national du parti présidentiel, a d'autre part indiqué que la formation politique INITE pourrait appuyer l'un ou l'autre des candidats admis au second tour.

"De toutes les façons, nous sortirons gagnants, car INITE va remporter les législatives et le prochain président devra cohabiter avec nous", a soutenu M. Lambert.

The U.S. Defends Democracy in Haiti

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice backs
the OAS's report of fraud in Haiti's presidential election.

The return to Port-au-Prince of exiled Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier a week ago Sunday stunned that nation. Pundits called it another bad break for Haitians and warned that the increased instability it could provoke is just what the impoverished country doesn't need.

But let's face it: Duvalier did not fall from the sky like a loose tree limb in a hurricane. His return was engineered, like the rampant government corruption that goes on every day.

Haiti's troubles are not, by and large, the bad luck of a cursed nation. They are man-made results brought about by local thugs and abetted by foreigners. Expecting change in Haiti without confronting this reality is lunacy. This is why reversing the fraud in Haiti's November presidential and parliamentary elections is so important.

The Duvalier dictatorships (from 1957-1986) not only stole from Haiti in real time but also set a precedent. Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was president first briefly in 1991 and then returned in 1994, took over the rackets, as if it was legitimately his "turn." President René Preval inherited the same role in 2006. Now the kleptocracy is trying to hang on through crooked vote counting. Remarkably, Organization of American States' (OAS) Secretary General José Miguel Insulza apparently thinks he should help them.

It is still not clear why "Baby Doc" chose this time to return to his homeland. But count me as one of many who are skeptical of Mr. Preval's claim that Duvalier's visit was unannounced and unwelcome. Haitian officials would have had a copy in advance of the Air France manifest of his flight from Guadeloupe. It could have stopped him from boarding or, once in Haiti, turned him away. Remember, he was using an expired diplomatic passport. But he was allowed in, and it's hard to ignore the fact that the timing of his return was fortuitous for Mr. Preval.

View Full Image

Associated Press

Haitian presidential candidate Michel Martelly (center) was fraudulently disqualified from the upcoming runoff, according to a report by the Organization of American States.

The next day, Mr. Insulza arrived in Port-au-Prince. An OAS "verification commission" had been invited into Haiti by Mr. Preval in December to audit the election results. The Haitian president seems to have been expecting a rubber stamp. But as part of its work, the commission conducted "a statistical analysis of a national random sample of the vote count" to help it identify tally sheets containing highly unlikely returns, e.g., more votes claimed than voters registered in a given precinct.

A copy of the commission's report had been leaked days earlier to the press. When tainted tallies were tossed out, the report said that the commission could not support the Provisional Electoral Council's (CEP) claim that Mr. Preval's hand-picked candidate, Jude Celestin, had qualified for the runoff. Instead, it said, Michel Martelly—a famous Haitian musician, successful entrepreneur and political outsider—should be given the second-place slot.

Haitians and diplomatic observers were eagerly awaiting Mr. Insulza's visit and the public statement he was sure to make about the fraud that the verification commission had found. Monitoring elections is, after all, a key role for the OAS. But instead of headlines on Monday about Mr. Insulza's visit, the fourth estate spilled its ink on Baby Doc's return.

Certainly Mr. Preval was pleased to have the Duvalier diversion. But he may not have been the only one unhappy with the election commission report. Several reliable sources told me that Mr. Insulza himself had sought to dilute the report by removing the commission's conclusion that Mr. Martelly won a runoff spot. That's quite a charge, so I called and emailed the OAS press office to see if Mr. Insulza would deny it. I received no response. My sources say that his goal of removing the report's major substantive recommendation is what propelled someone to leak the report to the press before it could be tampered with.

Mr. Insulza may pay a price. On Thursday the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, issued a tough statement at a Security Council briefing on Haiti, saying that Haiti must "outline a very clear way forward" that "include[s] announcing first-round results and conducting second-round elections in a manner consistent with the recommendations and findings of the OAS technical review." The ambassador also said "sustained support from the international community, including the United States, requires a credible process that represents the will of the Haitian people, as expressed by their votes."That allegation gained credence when the OAS put out a press release on Thursday about the commission's findings. It avoided repeating the commission recommendation: that "the position of the candidate in third place . . . [be] change[d] to second."

Mr. Preval knows that the U.S. puts a high price on stability, and that Mr. Insulza is loath to offend OAS members like Hugo Chávez, who favor authoritarian rule. But the election fraud, the return of Baby Doc, and proclamations from Mr. Aristide last week that he too is ready to go back mean trouble is brewing. Blessing a stolen election will only make things worse. It's time to send Mr. Preval and his minions packing.

Write to O'Grady@wsj.com

U.S. Revokes Visas of Several Haitian Officials

United States has revoked the visa of an unspecified number of Haitian officials today announced the State Department, which reiterated its call for Haiti to advance in an election “free, fair and credible.”

“We have taken action against a number of Haitian citizens, and something that will continue to assess,” said State Department spokesman, Philip Crowley, in his daily briefing.  He clarified that it is the Haitian government officials, but declined to reveal how many have been affected by the revocation or agreed to be identified by name.

However, CNN says it would be “a couple dozen” of government officials. Crowley also declined to reveal the reason why the State Department has taken this decision because, he argued, “the specific reasons are confidential.”

However, Crowley referred to the electoral crisis when asked whether revocation of the visas had to do with presidential and legislative elections of November 28, whose first round was marked by irregularities, according to observers, and were denounced as fraudulent by the opposition.

“We focus now on ensuring that an electoral process free, fair and credible in Haiti,” he said.  An expert mission of the Organization of American States (OAS), which verified the preliminary results of the first round, recommended to the Haitian authorities to grant the second place candidate and singer Michel Martelly, to the detriment of the ruling Jude Celestin.

The OAS determined that a total of 234 leaves of the first round results did not meet the necessary conditions and thus recommended excluding them from the tabulation of votes.

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QUESTION: So can you be more specific? Are these government officials? You said citizens.

MR. CROWLEY: I will just simply say that we – you asked the question, have we revoked some visas of Haitian citizens; we have.

QUESTION: No, no. His question was officials, government officials.

MR. CROWLEY: Yes.

QUESTION: So yes?

MR. CROWLEY: Yes.

QUESTION: Haitian citizens and government officials?

MR. CROWLEY: And government officials.

QUESTION: Or just government officials?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, the – government officials.

QUESTION: Okay. And there are numerous visas that one can be ineligible for a visa. What specific ones – and I think you can answer this question – is it corruption, is it human rights abuses? What’s the --

MR. CROWLEY: The specific reasons actually are confidential.

QUESTION: No, no, no.

MR. CROWLEY: No.

QUESTION: I’m not asking for the specific reasons for each person, but there are reasons why people are ineligible for a visa. There are broad categories of ineligibility. So what is the category of ineligibility for these people?

MR. CROWLEY: I am going to decline to comment.

QUESTION: Because?

QUESTION: Is there some link to elections? Are you saying that they’ve not been cooperating with the elections?

MR. CROWLEY: We obviously continue to be in touch with the Government of Haiti. We want to see the Government of Haiti embrace the recommendations of the OAS verification mission report. We want to see security and stability sustained in Haiti. We want to see the election results reflect the will of the Haitian people. And to the extent that there are individuals who are connected with episodes of violence or corruption. We will not hesitate to take appropriate actions

Duvalier taken into custody

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Extraordinary drama unfolded Tuesday in Port-au-Prince as former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was taken into custody at his hotel and transported to a courthouse for a hearing.

However, a source close to Duvalier told CNN that he did not expect Duvalier to be charged with any crimes or face arrest. He said the former dictator could be back in his hotel room by afternoon's end.

A flurry of intense legal activity preceded Duvalier's emergence from the Karibe Hotel, where he had been since his mysterious return to Haiti on Sunday.

 Outside the hotel in the swanky suburb of Petionville, throngs of journalists had waited for Duvalier's appearance amid speculation that the former despot would be arrested.

Several hundred people lined the downhill road from Petionville to downtown Port-au-Prince to show support. Some held banners and photos of Duvalier when he was in his prime.

Duvalier shocked the world by returning to his homeland Sunday night after some 25 years of exile in France. He is accused of pillaging the country, siphoning money from Haiti's treasury into his family's pockets during his rule, which ended with a popular rebellion in 1986.

Human rights groups also have sounded a call for justice for atrocities committed during his 15 years of rule.

Under Duvalier's presidency, thousands were killed and tortured, and hundreds of thousands of Haitians fled into exile, according to Human Rights Watch.

Michele Montas, a Haitian journalist who has fought for democracy and is a former spokeswoman for the United Nations secretary-general, said Monday night that she plans to file a criminal complaint against Duvalier.

"We have enough proof. There are enough people who can testify. And what I will do is go to a public prosecutor, and there is a public prosecutor that could actually accommodate our complaints," she said on CNN's "Parker Spitzer."

The United Nations said Tuesday that Duvalier's presence in Haiti had taken the global body by surprise and it "clearly raises issues of impunity and accountability." Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said a range of human rights abuses and corruption issues surround Duvalier.

It's still unclear why Duvalier decided to go back to Haiti and speculation mounted Tuesday over what he had hoped to accomplish.

His presence certainly added to a bubbling cauldron of political turmoil sparked by a presidential election mired in controversy.

"Obviously this is an important and crucial time for the people of Haiti," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

"Any political leader or any former political leader should focus not only on him or herself, but on making progress towards a set of important elections," Gibbs said, adding that such people should dedicate "their time and their energy toward the reconstruction of the country."

Journalist Amy Wilentz, author of "The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier," said the "Baby Doc" media circus was taking the focus off Haiti's leadership crisis.

"it's a giant side show to the electoral debate," she said.

Preliminary results of the November 28 election placed former first lady Mirlande Manigat in a runoff with Jude Celestin, the candidate backed by Haiti's unpopular President Rene Preval. However, international monitors charged fraud and a subsequent election review put Celestin in third place. Observers suggested he be eliminated from contention.

Preval's government has not officially commented on Duvalier's return, though some Haitians, craving a father figure to lead the nation out of crisis, have commented favorably on the old days of Duvalier.

Back then, the streets were safe, said Port-au-Prince resident Jean Etienne. People could walk outside at night and food was cheap, he said.

But Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor of the New York-based Haitian Times, blamed the father-son Duvalier dynasty for a nation struggling to regain footing. He said the scars still run deep from an era when no one trusted each other.

Pierre-Pierre said he hopes that justice would finally prevail.

"If there is a bright sport," he said, "finally we have to face that decision that we have never faced straight up. We've been in denial about what happened during the 29-year reign of dictatorship of the Duvaliers."

Duvalier was supposed to have held a news conference Monday but it was canceled and he remained huddled inside the Karibe until he was taken away Tuesday.

The source close to Duvalier said he had not intended to make any political declarations but instead wanted to speak broadly about his homeland.

Henry Robert Sterlin, a Duvalier associate, told reporters that Duvalier returned because he was moved by the anniversary of last year's tragic earthquake and because he missed his native land.

"He's deeply hurt in his soul after the earthquake," Sterlin said. "He wanted to come back to see how is the actual Haitian situation -- of the people and of the country."

Sterlin said he did not know how long the former leader had planned to stay.

His arrival on Haitian soil immediately garnered calls for his arrest.

"Duvalier's return to Haiti should be for one purpose only: to face justice," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch. "His time to be held accountable is long overdue."

Amnesty International also said Duvalier should face trial.

"The widespread and systematic human rights violations committed in Haiti during Duvalier's rule amount to crimes against humanity," said Javier Zuniga, special adviser at Amnesty International. "Haiti is under the obligation to prosecute him and anyone else responsible for such crimes."

The Duvalier family ruled Haiti for three decades, starting in 1957 when Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier was elected president. He later declared himself president for life. When he died in 1971, he was succeeded by his son, then only 19

'Baby Doc' Duvalier returns to Haiti from exile

The former president of Haiti, Jean-Claude Duvalier, has returned to the country, 25 years after he was overthrown by a popular revolt.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier returned Sunday to Haiti after nearly 25 years in exile, a surprising and perplexing move that comes as his country struggles with a political crisis and the stalled effort to recover from last year's devastating earthquake.

Duvalier, wearing a dark suit and tie, arrived on an Air France jet to hugs from supporters at the Port-au-Prince airport. He was calm as he was led into the immigration office. He left the airport without making a statement to journalists, waving to a crowd of more than 200 supporters as he got into an SUV.

"He is happy to be back in this country, back in his home," said Mona Beruaveau, a candidate for Senate in a Duvalierist party who spoke to the former dictator inside the immigration office. "He is tired after a long trip."

Beruaveau said he would give a news conference on Monday.

In the fall of 2007, President Rene Preval told reporters that Duvalier could return to Haiti but would face justice for the deaths of thousands of people and the theft of millions of dollars.

It was not immediately clear why the former dictator chose this tumultuous moment to return to Haiti. There were no immediate protests in reaction to his return and very few people were even aware that the former dictator had come back to Haiti, where more than 1 million people are living in crowded, squalid tent encampments after their homes were destroyed from the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.

At one of those camps, there was some enthusiasm for Duvalier's return.

"I don't know much about Jean-Claude Duvalier but I've heard he did good things for the country," said 34-year-old Joel Pierre. "I hope he will do good things again."

Nearby, 42-year-old Marline Joseph, living in the camp with her three kids, was also somewhat hopeful. "He's here, that's good. Now, what is he going to do for the country."

Haitians danced in the streets to celebrate the overthrow of Duvalier back in 1986, heckling the tubby, boyish tyrant as he was driven to the airport in a black limousine and flown into exile in France. Most Haitians hoped the rapacious strongman known had left for good, closing a dark chapter of terror and repression that began under his late father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.

But a handful of loyalists have been campaigning to bring Duvalier home from exile in France, launching a foundation to improve the dictatorship's image and reviving Baby Doc's political party in the hopes that one day he can return to power democratically.

"We want him to be president because we don't trust anyone in this election. He did bad things but since he left we have not had stability. We have more people without jobs, without homes," said Haiti Belizaire, a 47-year-old Duvalier supporter in the crowd outside the airport.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that if Duvalier is involved in any political activities he is not aware of them.

"He is a Haitian and, as such, is free to return home," the prime minister said in an email to The Associated Press. Asked if Duvalier's presence could destablize the country, he said "Until now, there's no reason to believe that."

The Duvaliers tortured and killed their political opponents, ruling in an atmosphere of fear and repression ensured by the bloody Tonton Macoute, their feared secret police force.

The end of his reign was followed by a period known as deshoukaj or "uprooting" in which Haitians carried out reprisals against Macoutes and regime loyalists, tearing their houses to the ground.

Duvalier has been accused of pilfering millions of dollars from public funds and spiriting them out of the country to Swiss banks, though he denies stealing from Haiti.

Dictators have long favored hiding their cash in the European nation due to its banking secrecy rules, but last year, lawmakers there approved a bill making it easier to seize ill-gotten funds.

Duvalier's return Sunday comes as the country struggles to work through a dire political crisis following the problematic Nov. 28 first-round presidential election.

Three candidates want to go onto a second round. The Organization of American States sent in a team of experts to resolve the deadlock, recommending that Preval's candidate be excluded. Preval was reportedly not pleased with the report. OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza was scheduled to be in Port-au-Prince to meet with Preval on Monday.

The news floored Haiti experts and has thrown the country's entire political situation into question. Immediately speculation began about what other exiled leaders might return next.

"I was shocked when I heard the news and I am still wondering what is the next step, what Preval will say and obviously what (exiled former President Jean-Bertrand) Aristide will be doing," said Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born history professor at the University of Virginia and author of "The Roots of Haitian Despotism."

"If Jean-Claude is back in the country I assume Aristide will be trying to get back as quickly as possible."

Fatton wondered what role the French government played in Duvalier's return, saying they would have had to have been aware that the ex-despot was boarding an Air France jet to go home.

In France, the deputy spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry said she had seen news of Duvalier's arrival in Haiti, but had "no information" about the matter and could not confirm that he'd left France. The spokeswoman did not give her name, in accordance with ministry policy.

Author Amy Wilentz, whose book "The Rainy Season" is a definitive account of the aftermath of Duvalier's exile and Aristide's rise, said: "This is not the right moment for such upheaval."

"Let's not forget what Duvalierism was: prison camps, torture, arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killings, persecution of the opposition," she wrote in an email to AP. And, she added, "If Haitian authorities allow Duvalier to return, can they thwart exiled President Aristide's desire to come back to the country?"

"Haitians need a steady hand to guide them through the earthquake recovery, not the ministrations of a scion of dictatorship."

Associated Press writers Jonathan M. Katz in Brooklyn, New York, Ben Fox in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


VIDEO OF DUVALIER'S RETURN

What do you think

OAS Complete 33 pages Final Report on Haiti Election

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A leaked report on Haiti's disputed Nov. 28 elections by Organization of American States experts recommends that a government-backed presidential candidate be eliminated from a second-round run-off, a U.S. media report said on Monday.

The Associated Press, which said it had obtained a copy of the OAS team's draft report, cited the document as challenging the preliminary election results released on Dec. 7 by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), which had put government technocrat Jude Celestin in the second round.The Provisional Electoral Council said it had not yet received the final report by the OAS experts who have worked since late last month to verify the contested results from the chaotic presidential and legislative polls.

At a news conference with Haitian journalists late on Monday, outgoing President Rene Preval also indicated that he had not seen the report. "I have nothing to say about the (OAS) recommendations because I have not read them," Preval said. "I don't have them in my hands."

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ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES

EXPERT VERIFICATION MISSION

PRESIDENT ELECTION – FIRST ROUND 2010

FINAL REPORT

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Invited by the Government of Haiti on December 13, 2010, the OAS Expert Verification of the Tabulation Mission was requested to assess the practices and procedures used in tabulating the preliminary results of the November 28, 2010 presidential elections as well as other factors that had an impact on these results. On Election Day, international and national observers witnessed a number of problems: disorganization, irregularities as well as instances of ballot stuffing, intimidation of voters and vandalism of polling stations. These problems were further exacerbated by the precipitous decision of many candidates to call for the cancellation of elections, hours before the polls closed. In the days following Election Day, the OAS-CARICOM Joint Election Observation Mission received numerous allegations of ballot-box stuffing and alterations to the official result sheets (“Procès-Verbaux”) of the individual polling stations. By any measure, these were problematic elections.

In the Tabulation Center, where the Expert Mission focused its efforts, these problems manifested themselves in two particular ways. Some 1,045 Procès-Verbaux (PVs), 9.3 percent of the total from the 11,181 polling stations, never arrived and were identified as “missing.” Secondly, although electoral participation ebbed to 22.8 percent, 216 PVs recorded participation rates of 75 percent and above and 118 PVs reached or exceeded 100 percent.

The critical question facing the Expert Mission was, did the irregularities of November 28 impact the outcome of the presidential elections? After a thorough statistical analysis, explained in more detail in the body of this report, the Expert Mission has determined that it cannot support the preliminary results of the presidential elections released on December 7, 2010. The Expert Mission offers three concrete recommendations for the immediate term that would mitigate some of the anomalies caused by the more egregious irregularities and instances of fraud and ensure that the preliminary results better reflect the will of the people.

Procedure dictates that upon receipt of the PVs, staff in the Tabulation Center reviews the results through its plastic, transparent cover. If there are no visible signs of alterations, these results are immediately input separately by two data-entry operators. Initially, the Tabulation Center visually reviewed those PVs in which a single candidate obtained 225 or more votes. Subsequently, the Tabulation Center lowered that threshold to 150. (CONTINUED BELOW)

Full Report is 33 pages long and cannot be included in the blog. So Click on the link below to see FULL REPORT on RockMasters.com

http://rockmasters.com/flyers-2011/oas-report-draft.htm 

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APNewsBreak: New Election Count - OAS recommendations: Manigat in 1st place, Martelly 2nd - Celestin Out

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti January 10, 2011, 12:19 pm ET


An international monitoring team will recommend that Haiti's government-backed candidate be eliminated from a presidential runoff election in favor of a popular musician who finished a close third in the contested official results, according to a copy of its report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The report by a team from the Organization of American States team was to be presented on Monday to President Rene Preval.

The report had not been released publicly, but the AP obtained a copy and a foreign official with direct knowledge of the report confirmed its conclusions. A second foreign official confirmed that the report was in its final stages of editing and translation into French, but that the conclusion would stand.

Haitian electoral officials must make the final decision on what to do, but the team's recommendations could weigh heavily. Three candidates believe they should advance to a second-round vote. Rioting broke out in several Haitian cities when the preliminary results were announced.

Preval is not expected to respond publicly until after Wednesday's one-year anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.

The second round was originally scheduled for Sunday Jan. 16 but was delayed in part because electoral officials were waiting for the results of the OAS review aimed at solving the deadlock. Officials have said that the earliest it can be held is next month.

The experts found that tens of thousands more votes than previously thought should be discarded because polling-place officials did not follow procedures or because there were signs that the tally sheets had been altered.

"After a thorough statistical analysis ... the Expert Mission has determined that it cannot support the preliminary results of the presidential elections released on Dec. 7, 2010," the report said.


According to the review, carnival singer Michel Martelly would end up in second place with 22.2 percent after having 7,150 votes ruled invalid. Ruling party candidate Jude Celestin would drop to third place with 21.9 percent after losing 17,220 votes.


"Should this recommendation be implemented, the position of the candidate in third place would change to second and the candidate now in second place would move to third," the draft report states directly.

Former first lady Mirlande Manigat would remain in first place with 31.6 percent of the vote after having 13,830 of her votes thrown out.

The team included electoral, technical and statistical experts from France, the United States, Canada, Jamaica and the OAS. It reviewed a sample of the vote — roughly 16.9 percent of the votes cast — along with ballot boxes and bags, user access logs and other material.


The team decided not to recommend throwing out the first-round vote and conducting a new nationwide election, as some observers and candidates have requested.


"A new election would involve more contests and candidacies than the evidence warranted," it said, adding that it would be too expensive and "subject the Haitian people to a further lapse in constitutional governance."

It also decided not to recommend a partial do-over in "certain problematic locations" or a nationwide recount.

Preval's term is scheduled to end on Feb. 7, but could remain in power until May because he was inaugurated late in 2006