PORT-AU-PRINCE – A leaked report on Haiti’s disputed November 28th elections by Organisation of American States (OAS) experts recommends a government-backed presidential candidate be eliminated from a second-round run-off, a US media report said on Monday.
The Associated Press (AP), which said it had obtained a copy of the OAS team’s draft report, cited the document as challenging the preliminary election results released on December 7th by Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council. This had put government technocrat Jude Celestin in the second round.
The council said it had not yet received the final report by the OAS experts.
The leaked recommendation seemed likely to roil the edgy political climate in Haiti as the country and the international community commemorate the first anniversary of the January 12th earthquake.
The preliminary December 7th results triggered several days of street riots and protests, mostly by supporters of third-place candidate and popular musician Michel Martelly who was edged out of the second round by Celestin. Both finished behind opposition matriarch Mirlande Manigat who gained most votes in the first round, but not enough for an outright win.
“The Provisional Electoral Council does not have the OAS report,” council director-general Pierre-Louis Opont said.
OAS officials in Haiti said they were still working on the final version of the report to be delivered to the council and Haitian president Rene Preval.
“We don’t have a final report as yet . . . we hope to have it finished by the end of the day,” said ambassador Colin Granderson, who heads a joint OAS-Caribbean Community mission that observed the November 28th elections.
OAS and council officials said they could not comment on the contents of the leaked report as cited by AP. One official called the leak “disappointing”.
Meanwhile, outgoing president Preval, under fire from critics over his government’s response to the earthquake and to a subsequent cholera epidemic, is understood to be anxious to avoid mixing the electoral dispute with the earthquake memorial events, foreign diplomats said.
Mr Preval, whose mandate ends on February 7th, but has a parliament-approved authorisation to stay in office until May 14th, has described the election results impasse as “a dangerous crossroads”. The protests and violence which followed the December 7th preliminary results have stoked fears that instability could delay the handover of billions of dollars of reconstruction funds from foreign donors.
According to the review quoted by the AP, Martelly would end up in second place in the first round with 22.2 per cent, while Preval protege Celestin would drop to third place, and out of the second round, with 21.9 per cent.
Manigat would remain in first place with 31.6 per cent.
This compared with the preliminary results which gave Manigat 31.37 per cent, Celestin 22.48 per cent, and Martelly 21.84 per cent.
Election observers say that even if the council heeds the experts’ findings, it still has to complete a disputes procedure before it can announce final revised results from the November 28th first round vote. This means Haiti will not be able to hold a presidential election second round run-off before February. – (Reuters)