Singer faces former first lady in presidential runoff in Haiti
By Jacqueline Charles and Trenton Daniel, The Miami Herald, February 3, 2011
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti--Haiti's presidential runoff election will pit a popular singer and political novice against a former first lady with a record of political opposition, election officials announced early Thursday morning. Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, 49, was chosen over Jude Celestin, the government-backed candidate, to compete for the Haitian presidency in a March 20 runoff. His opponent, former first lady Mirlande Manigat, 70, was set to be one of the two candidates in the runoff since preliminary results of a disputed Nov. 28 election showed her in first place.
The decision over who would get a chance to replace President Rene Preval came after a sleepless night during which 100 Haitian and foreign journalists kept vigil inside a defunct Gold's Gym in Petionville as officials deliberated for more than 10 hours. Elections spokesman Richardson Dumel finally appeared alone at 7:14 a.m., offering first the results of the 105 contested legislative races. The presidential runoff results were listed on the council's website. Dumel offered no explanation when he finally announced at 7:34 a.m. that Martelly and Manigat were headed into Haiti's first presidential runoff in 25 years.
The long wait only added to the suspense. The final announcement followed a day of rumors and months of political uncertainty, diplomatic wrangling and pressure by the international community, including the United States.
Last month, the top U.S. diplomat to the United Nations warned a quake-battered Haiti that it could lose valuable international aid if it failed to accept the recommendations of a controversial Organization of American States report. An OAS team was assembled to review vote tallies and make recommendations after allegations of massive fraud in the November election. The OAS report suggested the elections could be salvaged with an improved second round, and recommended that Martelly, not Celestin, enter the runoff.
In the preliminary results, Celestin was listed as the second-place finisher and Martelly third. But after the OAS team reviewed 919 of 11,000 tally sheets, it recommended that 234 tally sheets be excluded because they were irregular or fraudulent. That left a 0.3 percentage point, or 3,225 vote difference, between Martelly and Celestin.
Preval and Celestin, 48, have disputed the report, questioning its methodology and citing examples where votes were not counted on behalf of the candidate at the vote tabulation center. Last week, Celestin's lawyers challenged the report and his standing before a five-member electoral tribunal. The case was thrown out by the tribunal. So was the case of another presidential candidate, Charles-Henri Baker, whose lawyers argued that the elections should be cancelled.
While Thursday's decision provides some clarity to the months-long dispute, it's unclear whether it will resolve the political uncertainty that has shrouded Haiti since a dozen presidential candidates disrupted the vote with lunchtime accusations of "massive fraud" and demanded cancellations. Martelly and Manigat were initially among them but backtracked after they learned they were leading.
"It is not clear that a second round will bring stability to Haiti, let alone legitimacy to the new president," said Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia, who has closely followed the crisis. "The controversial first round as well as the patterns of foreign interference have left many sectors disenchanted with the process," he said. "In addition, whoever is elected will have to deal with an unruly parliament and prime minister. So this is a first and small step toward the creation of a new government, but it may well be a detour to a new crisis."
In all, elections officials deliberated 108 disputed results, including 105 for legislative races. Parliament will hold the balance of power and could hamper the president's ability to run the country. The county will have a split majority with one party in the presidency, and another party or parties holding power in parliament. Neither Martelly's nor Manigat's political parties ran enough candidates to win a majority in parliament.
Congressional Black Caucus Statement on Elections
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Task Force on Foreign Policy and International Affairs has called on the US administration and the international community to support new elections in Haiti and states that, "the will of the people of Haiti was not, in good faith, represented. We believe that the recommendation of a new election should be included in the OAS report, and it should not be endorsed, in its entirety, as it currently stands." The full text of the just distributed CBC Task Force statement follows:
For Immediate Release: February 1, 2011
Communications Director: Stephanie L. Young o:202.226.5312 c:202.731.2621
Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Foreign Policy and International Affairs
Statement on Haiti Elections & OAS Report
Washington, DC – Chairman Emanuel Cleaver, II and Hon. Donald M. Payne, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Foreign Policy and International Affairs, released the following statement in response to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s support of OAS report:
“The Congressional Black Caucus cannot overlook the serious concerns that the recent elections in Haiti have posed to its overall democracy. The CBC urges the United States and the international community to uphold the ideals of fairness and support a new Haiti election process that is free and fair, respecting the rights of the Haitian people.
We are not blind to the complexity of this issue, as well as the need for a functional Haitian government. Our Members have experienced first-hand the denial of voting rights, voter intimidation, and other acts of voter discrimination. No entity can truly report on the “will of the Haitian” people without accurately counting the unfair circumstances concerning the November elections. If the United States is going to play a role, public integrity calls for us to do for others what we would do for our own citizens: equal access and equal protection for those who want to participate in the democratic process.
On January 7, 2010, Cheryl Mills, Counselor and Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, conceded that the United States would consider new elections if an OAS report recommended it. Philip Crowley, spokesman for the State Department, stated that “the first results did not reflect the vote of the people of Haiti,” and added that, “strong indications that significant electoral fraud has been recorded and preliminary results disclosed do not reflect the actual vote of the Haitian people.” Let us not attempt to disguise what we already know: the will of the people of Haiti was not, in good faith, represented. We believe that the recommendation of a new election should be included in the OAS report, and it should not be endorsed, in its entirety, as it currently stands.
The “will of the Haitian people” is yet to be determined. We urge the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to support a recommendation of new elections for Haiti. We are accountable for those things we say we support as a nation. As part of the very fabric of this country, the Congressional Black Caucus calls for a different message to be relayed to the people of Haiti.”
- Chairman Emanuel Cleaver, II, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus
-Hon. Donald M. Payne, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus Foreign Policy Task Force