Aristide+ally+set+to+win+Haitian+vote,+Business+Day

Business Day, Johannesburg, 07 February 2006
=Aristide ally set to win Haitian vote =

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Two years after their last elected president fled, Haitians will pick a new leader today, torn between high hope for this struggling country and fear that violence may flare up.

The challenges are formidable in a country terrorised by armed gangs, battling to consolidate its volatile democracy, plagued by rampant poverty and still polarised by the departure of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide, in exile in SA.

Mainly financed by the international community, the presidential and legislative elections were postponed four times amid bloodshed and disarray, and observers fear there could be more chaos on election day.

But officials of the 9500-strong United Nations (UN) military and police force, known as Minustah, have said they will be able to guarantee voters’ safety.

The number of kidnappings and shootings in Port-au-Prince has dropped significantly in recent days after UN officials held talks with residents of Port-au-Prince slums that have been flashpoints of violence.

Former president Rene Preval, the clear frontrunner in opinion polls, said he too was confident order would prevail, though he acknowledged gangs of organised criminals might seek to disrupt the vote for fear it could bring stability.

Drug traffickers, hijackers and other criminals currently operate in a climate of virtual impunity. As a protective measure schools have been shut and government offices shuttered until tomorrow. US carrier American Airlines suspended yesterday’s and today’s flights to the capital.

“Many residents of Port-au-Prince have told us they are too scared to make the journey to vote,” said Yolette Etienne, of the Oxfam aid organisation.

On Sunday, a gang of youths terrorised residents in one of the capital’s roughest neighbourhoods, threatening anyone who would not vote for Preval.

Electoral posters of Preval are plastered everywhere in the slum, to the exclusion of any others.

“Everybody here will vote for Preval, we love him,” said Arisme Junior, who is unemployed but has high hope for the future.

“He is our only hope,” he said, wearing a yellow Preval t-shirt.

Preval’s pledges to bring social justice and security have struck a chord in Haiti, the poorest and one of the most violent countries in the western hemisphere.

His association with Aristide, who championed the rights of the poor, has also boosted his standing among impoverished Haitians.

Guy Philippe — the former police chief whose 2004 insurgency pushed out Aristide — is among the 32 candidates, though opinion polls indicate that he is unlikely to garner significant support.

Politician Leslie Maniga, ousted in a coup in 1988, and wealthy industrialist Charles Henry Baker are expected to feature. Sapa-AFP


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/world.aspx?ID=BD4A150959