than the required 50 percent plus one of the vote required to beat
longtime opposition leader and former first lady
The preliminary results of
whose members triggered momentary panic Sunday evening when they
unexpectedly showed up at the vote tabulation center where tally sheets
were undergoing a final scrutiny for fraud.
The second round of elections for the presidential
and legislative races were better organized than the first round. But
like the chaotic
As of
presidential tally sheets out of more than 25,000 had been tossed out
of the final vote count. The number accounted for between 15 and 18
percent of the tallies. The average margin of fraud in elections for
During the
not only stuffed ballots but they also included fraudulent voter
identification numbers, which were picked up by elections workers who
included 16 attorneys trained in new criteria set up by the
the OAS was brought in following the first round to verify the vote and
put in new procedures in hopes of salvaging the election.
Less clear are the results of the legislative elections, described by one diplomat “as a mess.”
There were more than 70 legislative runoff races to fill both the
Haitian President
to remove their presidential candidate from the runoff spot in favor of
Martelly.
Following the first round, Martelly insisted that he
— and not the government’s choice — should go into the runoff against
Manigat. His supporters shut down major cities for three days with
rioting. A controversial review of the vote by an
For days
has been on edge awaiting the presidential results, with Manigat
supporters fielding rumors of a victory and supporters of Martelly
threatening to take to the streets in a violent outrage if he were to
lose.
Haitian-American rapper formerly of the Grammy-award winning hip hop
group The Fugees, was accused of followers on his Twitter account of
inciting violence when at
Followers responded by asking why was he preaching
violence, while Martelly supporters quickly denounced him, saying he
doesn’t speak on behalf of the presidential candidate. Michel, who was
seen in
Last month, the rapper was quoted in a YouTube video
saying “They will burn the country if Martelly is not elected
president.” He told
comments were taken out of context. Martelly also distanced himself
from the comments, telling journalists at a news conference that he
condemned any acts of violence.
“If the people voted for Manigat and she wins, then
life goes on,” he said. “If they choose a candidate and it goes a
different way, then they will be upset about it. When I say burn the
country, I am saying, the people will be in a rage. The people did not
agree.”
The U.N. peacekeeping mission along with the
have stepped up security in key cities, including the capital.
Additional troops were also put at the tabulation center and also an
armored U.N. vehicle is protecting both the elections headquarters and
the home of its elections council president Gaillot Dorsinvil.
Late Saturday night, Manigat supporters panicked after hearing that Dorsinvil had returned to the tabulation center.
Earlier in the day, he and the other seven members
of the council had rushed to the tabulation center after receiving a
fake text pronouncing Manigat as the winner, according to information
that would soon be released by Wikileaks. Their appearance raised
suspicions of the presidential observers. At the time 107 tally sheets
were sent to be processed but were rejected by the computer because the
parameters had not been adjusted to permit their inclusion. They were
later included.
Sources familiar with the events say that the
exclusion of the 107 tally sheets would not have changed the outcome
though the tallies may well be a point of contention by Manigat should
she decide to fight the preliminary results before the elections
council as permitted by
———
(c) 2011, The Miami Herald.
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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
