Negotiations may decide outcome as protests ease

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, February 15, 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel-- Even as he alleged a "gigantic fraud" designed to sabotage his presidential victory, Rene Preval urged supporters on Tuesday to tone down massive demonstrations that have paralyzed Haiti the past two days.

The remarks seemed to signal a period of calm as diplomats and other candidates rushed to rescue an election process perilously close to collapse. They must now examine ballots and possibly negotiate a compromise to avoid a runoff election that some fear could plunge the country into chaos. The interim government late Tuesday ordered a review of the election results, The Associated Press reported.

Several leading candidates declared their support for Preval on Haitian radio Monday and Tuesday. But Leslie Manigat, who finished second, said he would not drop out of the race. Neither would third-place finisher Charles Henri Baker, a wealthy industrialist.

About 10 percent of about 2.2 million ballots cast remained to be tallied, but some ballot reports are missing or were damaged in unexplained incidents after the election on Feb. 7, Rosemond Pradel, the secretary general of the Provisional Electoral Council, said on Tuesday afternoon.

About 125,000 ballots were ruled invalid because of irregularities, such as the way they were marked. Another 4 percent of the ballots were blank but added into the total, which Preval supporters say makes it harder for him to get the 50 percent plus one vote needed to win without a runoff.

All of these practices were part of the agreed-upon election rules, said Pradel, a former Pembroke Pines resident. He is a member of the nine-person council supervising the first elections since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted two years ago.

Preval, who leads a 33-man field with 48.7 percent, said he was willing to "analyze" the returns but was adamant about being the winner. His party's reports and at least one other tabulation he cited showed he had the simple majority needed for a first-round victory.

"We are sure of having won in the first round," Preval said. "We are convinced there was a gigantic fraud and gross errors that affected the process."

As he made the charges -- unsubstantiated by either the United Nations or other independent election observers -- Preval urged the throngs burning tires and besieging election offices in his name to march peacefully and respect property.

"We want you, the Haitian people, to be mature and to be nonviolent," Preval said. "You have to keep on demonstrating, protesting ... but you have to do it respecting everything that belongs to people, their houses, their cars, their lives."

Within hours, Port-au-Prince was cleared of rusting metal barricades, burning tires and boulders that had blocked major avenues.

What was unclear is how much damage the mobilization of tens of thousands of Preval supporters has done to Haiti's elections.

"We've lost all of our workers. They're afraid to come in now, and they don't want to work," Pradel said. "I still think we can finish the process, probably with each of the leading candidates looking at each ballot and making a decision we can all live with."

"What Preval is doing is something that Lavalas has done every election -- send a mob out on the streets when things are not going their way," Pradel said, referring to the Lavalas Family, the former party of Preval and his political mentor, Aristide. He recalled 2000, when international observers criticized Lavalas-dominated Senate elections and the head of the electoral council, Leon Manus, fled the country.

The latest elections were thrown into turmoil Sunday after two officials on the council accused its chief, Director General Jacques Bernard, of manipulating the vote. Though council member Pierre Richard Duchemin offered no evidence, he alleged that Bernard was working to stave off a first-round victory for Preval.

Broadcast over Haitian radio, the remarks fed a growing suspicion among many Preval supporters that Haiti's elite were conspiring against Preval, an agronomist and former president regarded as a beloved champion of the country's poor. Adding to their ire was the four days that it took the council to post partial returns.

"Duchemin didn't like Bernard, so he started alleging fraud," Pradel said. "He never raised it with any of us, and he didn't offer any evidence."

A foreign diplomat involved with the elections said Tuesday that technically there are not enough votes left to count to give Preval a first-round win.

"We have done all the projections, and there aren't any I'm aware of that put him over," said the diplomat, who didn't want his name used because of the sensitivity of the situation.

"But this is pretty much standard practice for Haitian elections; part of them involve voting and the rest involve negotiations. We've had 90 percent of the vote recorded. Now we're going to have to negotiate the remaining 10 percent."