HAITI: Presidential candidate Rene Preval asks his supporters to demonstrate peacefully, while alleging fraud in the Haitian election

Record ID: 697133

  • Title: HAITI: Presidential candidate Rene Preval asks his supporters to demonstrate peacefully, while alleging fraud in the Haitian election
  • Date: 15th February 2006
  • Summary: ARMED BLUE HELMETED UNITED NATIONS TROOPS BACKING AWAY FROM CONFRONTATION AND MOVING TOWARDS UN TRUCK
  • Embargoed: 2nd March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4RSDTVHW8RZIZ92NNYXO7CYU7
  • Story Text: Former President Rene Preval said on Tuesday (February 14) he won last week's election outright and urged Haitian officials to hold off publishing final results because of massive fraud.
    "We are sure of having won in the first round," Preval said in his first significant comments on the election results in the week since the vote.
    "We are convinced there was massive fraud and gross errors that affected the process," he said.
    Preval, a one-time ally of deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide whose main support comes from Haiti's slums, said his campaign had evidence of poll irregularities and "perhaps a massive fraud."
    Preval said that if the National Electoral Council publishes the results as they stand, his party will contest them. He added that if Lespwa (his political movement) contests them, the Haitian people will contest them.
    Preval had 48.7 percent at last report. He won the first round easily but his supporters and some elections officials said the count was being manipulated to prevent him from taking office without a run-off. He needed 50 percent plus one vote for an outright win.
    The Haitian capital was more peaceful early Tuesday. Some roads were still blocked by rocks, tree branches and other debris but traffic was moving.
    Preval called on his supporters to take down the barricades to allow people to get to work and school. He said: "Continue to protest, but respect the rights of others."
    Haiti's interim government on Monday evening pleaded with Haitians to stay calm as election officials counted the last 10 percent of ballots. The government was appointed after Aristide fled the impoverished Caribbean nation in the face of an armed rebellion and under intense international pressure to quit,
    Other presidential candidates also conceded Preval had won, including Chavannes Jeune, who is running fourth, former Port-au-Prince Mayor Evans Paul, who won just over 2 percent of the vote, and ex-Prime Minister Marc Bazin, who took under 1 percent.
    Another ex-president, Leslie Manigat, had 11.8 and industrialist Charles Baker, seen as the candidate of the wealthy elite, had 7.9 percent.
    Monday's demonstrations were largely peaceful, but witnesses said Jordanian U.N. troops -- part of a peacekeeping force providing security in Haiti -- killed two people when they opened fire in Tabarre, just north of the capital.
    The United Nations denied the accusation, saying the soldiers had fired warning shots in the air.
    In a nationally televised address late on Monday, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue asked for patience and assured voters they would get an honest vote count.
    Meanwhile, however, there was no sign of activity at the tabulation centre where votes were being counted last week. The doors were locked and computers turned off as the country continues to wait.
    Security was strengthened at the luxury Montana hotel in the hills overlooking Port-au-Prince, where elections officials had been releasing partial vote counts and holding news conferences.
    Preval supporters had invaded the upscale resort on Monday, demanding a final vote count and chanting "Preval is president!" On Tuesday, a white U.N. armored personnel carrier was stationed at the bottom of the winding road leading to the hotel and military police guarded the entry.
    Haiti's short democratic history has been plagued by violence. Aristide, a former priest who is a champion of Haiti's poor, was sent into exile in each of his two terms in office.
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